Is Online Gambling Legal In Poland

admin
Published June 26, 2014 by OCR Editor

Amends in Poland's Gambling Act are set to allow EU and EFTA operators to offer services within Poland provided they open actual offices inside the country.

The Polish Government andits people are nowadays engaged in a bugging affair which unleashed a politicalcrisis in the country. However, before that happened, some good news for onlinegambling came out of the country's Ministry of Finance only three weeks ago.

Online gambling is gaining traction worldwide and the number of countries that have legalized this activity is constantly growing. There are a few nations who refuse to even consider the possibility of creating a legal environment for their residents. However, they represent a shrinking minority and the trend is clearly towards fully legalizing and regulating.

Gambling Act Changes

Is Online Gambling Legal In Poland

The Polish Ministry ofFinance has published a project which is set to amend the country's GamblingAct. The changes touch subjects like betting sites and charity lotteries, butthe biggest change which is related to the iGaming world is the ministry'sintention to allow companies from EU and EFTA (European Free Trade Association)to operate gambling businesses inside Poland. While this signals agenerally very positive move towards aligning with EU gambling regulation laws,the set changes will set one obstacle in the paths of interested gamblingoperators: they would have to open an office in Poland itself.

  • Online sports betting is legal in this country and it is dominated by four betting companies. Fortuna Entertainment, Totolotek, STS, and Millenium are all licensed and regulated in Poland and they are allowed to offer their services online.
  • Before the amendment was added to the Gambling Law, sports betting was the only type of online gaming that was legal in Poland. Now, a state-owned company named Totalizator Sportowy can offer online casino-style games. This does not extend to poker; online poker is illegal in Poland.

Missed Tax Revenues

The projectedalterations to the Polish gambling laws, if they will be enacted, are notsurprising due to the country's estimated missed revenues due to its gamblingrestrictions: About PLN 600 million which amounts to approximately €142million. Poland is missing out on a big chunk of the action, as seen byestimates by consulting firm Roland Berger which valued the country's onlinegambling market at PLN 4.9 billion back in February (a little over €1 billion).The same report estimated that with things as they are in the present, Polandis seeing just 9% of this potential amount in income from the four Polishoperators which hold online betting licenses.

With the country in apolitical crisis, the future of Poland's Gambling Act remains to be seen. If itdoes go further, it will be interesting to see how operators tackle therequirement for opening an office inside the country itself.

See also

Poland Contemplates Changing of Gambling Laws

Is Online Gambling Legal In Poland

Dust Settles on Poland's Recent Gambling Ban

Is online gambling legal in poland 2020Is online gambling legal in portugalIs online gambling legal in poland today

End of Danish Online Gambling Monopoly