TLDR Polymarket will challenge a Dutch ban and a €420,000 penalty in court in The Hague. The Dutch Gambling Authority (Ksa) ordered Polymarket to stop operating in February, saying it lacked a gambling licence. Polymarket says it is a financial product and should be overseen by the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets. The Ksa rejected Polymarket’s earlier appeal in June, ruling that blockchain and crypto payments do not change the activity’s legal nature. Polymarket is meeting regulators across Europe, including ESMA and the UK’s FCA, to seek approval as a financial services firm.
Polymarket is taking the Dutch Gambling Authority to court. The US prediction market platform plans to challenge a ban in the Netherlands and a penalty of €420,000.
The company told Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad about the plan. The case will be heard in The Hague.
The Dutch Gambling Authority, known as the Ksa, ordered Polymarket to stop operating in the country in February. The regulator said the platform was running a gambling site without a licence.
The Ksa also blocked access to the US site. It threatened a penalty of €420,000 per week, up to a maximum of €840,000.
Polymarket disagrees with the gambling label. The company says it offers a financial product, not gambling services.
It argues that the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets, or AFM, should oversee its activities instead of the Ksa.
Polymarket Lost an Earlier Appeal
The court case follows a failed appeal. In June, the Ksa rejected an appeal from Adventure One QSS Inc., the company behind Polymarket.
The decision, published on June 23, said the platform’s markets still fall under Dutch gambling law. It also left room for enforcement if the operator did not meet local licensing rules.
In its appeal, Polymarket said it runs as an open-source