Online Betting in Poland

The History of Betting in Poland

The Polish government adopted a hands-off approach towards gambling in the 1980s and 90s, letting the industry develop largely unregulated with minor laws only introduced in 1992.

During this time thousands of betting shops opened up throughout the country and sports betting became a very popular past-time. This was despite having a double deduction tax system which charged the operator 10% and deducted 10% off winnings.

2009 saw the first major change when The Polish Act on Gaming was introduced followed by 2011 Amendments. These changes were targeted primarily at the casinos operating in the country and re-introducing online betting through state regulated sites.

The three main betting shop operators in Poland are Totolek, STS and Professional who dominate the market.

STS has been the company which has really stood out among these three, attracting a substantial investment from UK betting company Stanleybet and became the first sports betting company to establish an online presence in Poland.

High Taxes for Polish Betting Sites

Poland suffered a slow take up of operators looking to apply for licenses after the Amendments took effect, due to the high taxes and charges imposed by Poland.

The initial three Polish companies of STS, Totolek and Millenium were joined by Fortuna in 2012. The high taxes also caused operators to offer poor odds on different events.

This led to Polish sports bettors looking towards different international sites which led to the government blocking payments to certain sites and ISP blocking others.

• Fully licensed and certified by independent regulators.
• Approved for secure financial transactions and data protection.
• Reputation for dealing with complaints quickly and fairly.

Options were further reduced by online companies pulling out of the Polish market of their own accord, either acting in the interest of their shareholders or because they were looking to gain a future license when the time was right.

These measures have failed to stop Polish gamblers finding access to the sites they want to wager on and in Feb 2014 the value of Poland’s online gambling market was estimated to be in excess of €1 billion, with Polish operators only accounting for 9% of this total.

While the EU continues to put pressure on Poland to free up their online betting market, an amendment to the 2013 Gambling Act was made which allowed transactions from all European licensed payment processors including e-wallets like NETeller and Skrill.

This allowed Polish bettors easier and quicker options to fund their accounts when using licensed sports betting sites, or quicker ways transfer funds between international and Polish sites.

Changes Unlikely in the Near Future

Since 2012 there has been a fair amount of legal debate on the subject of Poland’s tough internet gambling laws. It is doubtful that allowing a full range of European payment processors will be enough to pacify European pressure to relax access to the online betting market.

Despite this, and the amount of the market Poland currently loses to international companies it seems unlikely changes will happen anytime soon. What is worth noting is that while the legal status of the non-Polish operators is in question, there are no laws to prevent Polish citizens using foreign websites.