Is Gambling Legal In Poland
- Is Gambling Legal In Poland Today
- Is Online Sports Betting Legal In Poland
- Is Gambling Illegal In Poland
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. Social restrictions related to gambling in Poland are imposed primarily on operators and gambling providers, and concern primarily the prevention of addictive gambling and underage gambling. Gaming operators in Poland are obliged to implement internal policies regarding responsible gambling.
Residents of Poland can no longer directly use the best online betting sites. In years past, top foreign operators supported our language. Bet365, SBO, and Pinnacle Sports offered accounts in Polski Złoty (PLN). We could deposit with NETELLER and Skrill, and some websites supported Przelewy24. Unfortunately, our government has since cracked down. Gambling sites targeting Poland must now hold a Polish Gambling License.
Polish licensed bookmakers must file quarterly reports. They pay 12% tax on betting turnover. There is also a 10% tax assessed to players on wins exceeding PLN 2,280. In turn, betting sites must withhold that tax from players’ payouts. Foreign bookmakers exited in 2017 over these regulatory requirements and high tax rates. As of March 2019, there are 15 betting sites licensed in Poland.
Due to the high tax rate, Polish bookmakers offer poor odds. Despite that, our legal gambling market is soaring. In 2016, betting turnover at Polish licensed Bookmakers was PLN 1.7 Billion. On 1 April 2017 foreign operators exited the Polish market. As a result, 2017 betting turnover jumped to PLN 3.3 Billion. In 2018, it rose to PLN 5.1 billion. That is a 55% increase in one year, and triple 2016 figures.
Is Gambling Legal In Poland Today
Polish Licensed Gambling Websites – 2019
Although there are 15 Polish licensed bookmakers, three companies have 89% market share.
www.sts.pl is the website of the largest bookmaker in Poland, Star-Typ Sport Sp. z o.o. (STS). Founded in 1997, they have over 1,300 employees. They sponsor the football club Jagiellonia Białystok and our Polish National Team. Their company has approximately 48% of our legal betting market share.
www.efortuna.pl is the betting site of our second largest bookmaker. It is ran by Fortuna Online Zakłady Bukmacherskie Sp. z o.o. Their parent Fortuna Entertainment Group trades on the Warsaw and Prague Stock Exchange. Founded in the Czech Republic in 1990, they now offer bookmaking in many countries. Their share of our legal betting market is 31%.
www.totolotek.pl is the third largest online betting site in Poland with about 10% market share. Totolotek is a native Polish company based in Warsaw. They are part of the Intralot Group – a huge gambling company with over 5,500 employees. Intralot operates games, lotteries, gambling, and sports betting in 53 countries. They have about 10% of our legal betting market share.
12 bookmakers combine for the remaining 11% market share. These are Milenium Zakłady Bukmacherskie, E-TOTO Zakłady Bukmacherskie, forBET Zakłady Bukmacherskie, LV BET Zakłady Bukmacherskie, Totalbet Betting Bookmakers, Cherry Online Polska, BEM Operations Limited, BetFan, Ewinner, Typiko, Superbet Zakłady Bukmacherskie, and Traf Zakłady Wzajemne. Keep in mind, these figures cover only the legal betting market.
Use of Foreign Online Bookmakers is Still High
Is Online Sports Betting Legal In Poland
Though legal betting is booming, use of illegal bookmakers is still high. Our bookmakers cannot offer us competitive odds because they need to pay 12% tax on turnover. We bet their poor odds and then pay 10% tax on our wins. This is why those serious about betting for long-term profit use foreign bookmakers. Professional punters in Poland often use bitcoin betting sites and Asian bookies.
Bitcoin Betting Sites
www.5dimes.eu and www.nitrogensports.eu are my favourite bitcoin betting sites. 5Dimes converts bitcoin deposits to USD. Likewise, you hold a USD account and place bets in that currency too. You can still cash out in bitcoin, with payment coming at the current exchange rate. At Nitrogen your balance remains bitcoin. You place wagers in bitcoin too. Both sites are discount bookies that are friendly to professional players. In other words, they offer great odds and have acceptable betting limits.
Asian Bookies
Asian Bookies focus on offering betting to professional punters based in Asia. They have discounted odds on football. In other words, they have the best odds. In-play wagering is available too. To service expats, they offer betting on about every football league in the world. Likewise, Ekstraklasa and I liga polska odds are on offer. Though targeted to Asian punters, smart bettors from all over the world use their sites.
Top Asian Bookies include SBOBet, 188Bet, Pinnacle888, and 12Bet. They do accept players from Poland. Thus, we need to use a betting agent to access these sites. Their agents hold licenses in havens, such as the Caribbean or special economic zones. Once you have an account with the agent you can use that agent’s interface to bet at a half dozen or more Asian Bookies.
Per SBS policy, I cannot recommend any specific agent. Thus, the next best step is to Google search how to use SBO and Pinnacle Sports via an agent from Poland. This topic is often discussed on betting forums. So, if you get creative with your search terms, you should not have a difficult time learning how this works.
- Asian Bookies
- US Betting Sites
- UK Bookmakers
- NBA Betting
- F1 Betting Guide
- MLB Betting Guide
- Global Matters, Government Regulation
This year Poland effected amendments to its Gambling Act, introducing a number of regulations with regard to gambling services as well as new market regulation mechanisms. Among the important changes, the amendments introduced a state monopoly on operations of slot machines outside casinos, and also a mechanism for blocking online domains offering access to gambling operated by entities without the required state authorizations.
In practice, the new online gambling regulations force banks operating in the Polish market to block gambling transactions offered by entities without a Polish license. Both bank transfers and card payments involving unlicensed entities are considered to be participation in illegal gambling and banks are obliged to prevent their customers in engaging in such activity. As of July there exists a Polish “Register of Domains Used to Offer Gambling Services in Violation of the Act” (Register), maintained by the Minister of Finance. Internet service providers must block entities whose address is entered in the Register. Further, players proven guilty of engaging in gambling on illegal websites are subject to fines and must forfeit the entirety of their winnings to the State Treasury.
At present, only few entities have been authorized by the Polish Ministry of Finance to offer betting services to customers, and all of them are registered in Poland. Interestingly, each of them has held the required authorization for years, and the most popular websites offering similar betting services, operated by foreign entities, initiated authorization procedures only in the first quarter of 2017.
The new regulations introduce, for the first time in Poland, a closed catalogue of websites; previously, blockades were imposed only on individual sites explicitly violating criminal law or at “variance with the principles of community life.” Ally Law member firm Żyglicka & Partners notes that the amendments to the Gambling Act may raise some issues. In a judgement from last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union stated that a Member State may not block websites that offer gambling services operated by entities authorized to do so by another Member State in a manner that is discriminatory to those entities. This judgement may significantly influence the issue of further regulation of the gambling market in Poland and the European Union.
Is Gambling Illegal In Poland
Ally Law member firms have deep experience in gambling, gaming, and internet law. If you have questions about the legality of your gambling or games undertakings, check with your Ally Law member firm for advice on the legality of your transactions in every country in which you do business. For more information about our services in this area, contact us at yourally@ally-law.com.
Click here for the complete article by Jaroslaw Rudy and Maciej Kwadrans of Ally Law member Żyglicka & Partners.