Poland - Gambling in Poland

Poland's new gambling law took effect almost just one year ago. And though the legislative framework was touted as a person that would liberalize the sector and provide global operators with appealing opportunities to function in a regulated environment, the nation's newly formed gambling landscape seemed a bit different in reality.

Stringent anti-online gambling legislation were eventually passed in both 2009 and 2011, together with the Gambling Acts producing all forms of online gambling illegal with the exception of sports betting - the reason for this being that the outcome depended upon the functioning of the teams and couldn't be rigged by either side. Poland currently operates a licencing system for internet sportsbooks, which are generally granted on a six-yearly basis to firms located inside the nation's borders. Whilst the penalties for breaking these laws are severe, they are seldom enforced by the authorities, and internet gambling has become an enormous industry in Poland - in actuality, the latest figures indicate that the market alone is worth a staggering $1billion.

Gambling in Poland

Over the last couple of decades, the Republic of Poland has managed to lose its former literary identity and embrace the ideals of Christianity, getting a fully-fledged member of the EU in 2004. Unfortunately, its principles of liberty and democracy haven't fully extended to the realms of internet gambling, with a lot of its limitations coming under fire from its own citizens and the EU Commission. Even when laws were pushed through in 1992, they simply tightened up the rules concerning the launching of new casinos, restricting them to cities with populations of at least 250,000. The exact same hands-off approach was taken with regards to online gambling, until a scandal involving Polish Sports Minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki shed light on a corrupt pro-gambling lobby in the government in 2009.

As already pointed out, licensed operators need to cover a 12% tax, together with turnover being the taxation base. Poland thus became one of relatively few nations to be taxing gaming operations on mortality. Most of the countries elect for gross gambling revenue/yield as a tax base.

Taxation

Taxation of gambling services is one of the things which could go horribly wrong as a market is undergoing regulation. It can be said that was true in Poland. Lawmakers, despite their willingness to liberalize the market, approached the taxation matter in a manner that was not particularly friendly toward controlled operations.

Negotiations between the authorities and many of gambling firms have actually been going on since 2009, and real breakthroughs are thought to be only around the corner. Until then, Polish citizens continue to be accepted by sites such as bet365 and Mr Green, who're offering Polish language versions of their sites in an effort to capture a slice of their lucrative $1billion market.

The Future of Gambling in Poland

Despite the present state of the law, online gambling in Poland appears to have something of a glowing future ahead. The European Court of Justice ruled against the government in 2012, upholding a complaint which the country had failed to notify the EU commission of regulations which could have an effect on the wider European economy - the case has now been handed back into the federal courts, and also a similar challenge is expected to be established in response to the Gambling Act 2011. What's more, there are also indications that the existing licencing authority is starting to open up the current market, using a licence recently given to Totolotek, a Polish subsidiary of Athens-based gambling firm Intralot.

Poland's Senate passed the country's new set of gambling rules in late 2016 and these took effect on April 1, 2017. Under the new Polish gambling regulations, curious international online sports gambling operators can make an application for a license from the Finance Ministry. But by using, they agree to cover a 12 percent tax on gambling turnover.

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