Regulatory Ruling and Compliance Timeline
The Dutch gambling authority Kansspelautoriteit has dismissed an appeal from Adventure One QSS Inc, the operator of Polymarket, to overturn a sanction for unlicensed gambling services. The ruling, published on 23 June, maintains the January penalty and confirms that financial penalties will continue to accrue until Dutch operations cease.The regulator initially determined in January that Polymarket provided Dutch users with wagering opportunities on future events, which meets the statutory definition of gambling under local law. Adventure One received a four-week grace period to close its offering but failed to meet the 17 February compliance deadline. IP-blocking measures were deployed on 18 February, after which automatic penalty accumulation began.
The operator filed its appeal in March, requesting the sanction be withdrawn and legal costs reimbursed.
Platform Mechanics and Legal Classification
Adventure One contended that Polymarket functions as an interface for the Polygon blockchain protocol, where users trade peer-to-peer positions via crypto wallets and outcomes are validated by external oracles. The company also noted that certain markets qualify as financial products, a classification recently supported by a statement from the European Securities and Markets Authority regarding binary options restrictions. Kansspelautoriteit rejected the decentralization argument, stating that the presence of chance beyond participant control defines the service as gambling regardless of blockchain technology.The authority highlighted Polymarket promotional materials, which explicitly use the term betting in the phrase "Stay informed and profit from your knowledge by betting on future events". Dutch regulations classify both traditional sports wagering and event betting on political or non-sport outcomes as licensed gambling activities.
The regulator initial investigation findings further supported the classification based on platform mechanics.