1. Online Gambling Legal In Poland

Before having the new legislative draft, in July 2020 at the Council of Ministers of Poland, the regulatory act “About making amendments” to the law “About gambling” was resolved. It became effective on April 1^st 2020 within the online gambling market as well as the land-based places. This legislative act was created and performed by Ministry of Finance of Poland.

According to the ministry, this act was resolved for the introduction of the limits to the so-called grey area, defence of the players against negative consequences of the gambling and increase of the social awareness about the risks, connected with the illegal gambling. As far as online casino games, Totalizator Sportowy stands the monopoly in Poland, controlling the whole online market.

A new report from Poland’s Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has revealed that while regulated the gambling industry has grown rapidly following amendments to the country’s Gambling Act in 2017, it is still dwarfed by the illegal market. The law and regulation applicable to Relevant Products in Poland is the Act of 19 November 2009 on gambling games (hereinafter “the Gambling Act”). Gambling in Poland really took off after the breakup of the USSR, where it flourished for a number of years without really much impeding it in the way of laws or regulations. Then, in 2010, the Polish government passed a pretty restrictive piece of legislation which still permitted gambling but did so under fairly tight restrictions.

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. So how does Polish law look at loot boxes? As a result of public concern in Poland, the Polish Ministry of Finance (which is also the regulator of the gambling industry) began to consider whether loot boxes should be considered a form of gambling, and regulated accordingly.

Significant Key Elements of Advanced Regulations

The aim of the law amendments is to change the situation with illegal casino games on the territory of the country, the enlargement of the incoming from the legal business and defence of the gamblers including underaged ones. Moreover, new law spreads the list of the games that can be offered by online operators. Meanwhile, the licensed betting operators are allowed advertising free play, they are banned from promoting banking payment methods at the websites.

The penalty cost will be eight times higher than compared to the past. 100 000 zloty is the penalty for the ownership of unlicensed slot machines. We also provided certain changes in order to have fair-dealing taxation in gambling sphere.

The main revolutionary changes include:

• There are more casino games permitted in the country – in spite of online betting and lotteries, the list includes all casino games with bingo and poker
• The whole online gambling area in Poland falls under the rule of the country monopoly. The only exception is the online betting and lotteries which are set under the country’s license
• The functioning of slot games outside the gambling place falls under the rule of the country’s monopoly that is going to run the set of the gaming venues. Moreover, the operation of slot machines without the license or registration is forbidden since 1 April 2020
• The partial linearization of the poker tournaments – live competitions are allowed outside casino place under the condition of getting license or filing of the notification
• He payment options or IP of unlicensed operators will be blocked from 1 July 2020
• The advertisement of sports betting services is allowed after acceptance of additional changes; the offers of the banking services at the websites or at the places with slot machines are forbidden
• The law doesn’t suggest changes in the taxation of the individuals of the gambling business (however, it will be possible in the future)

Online Gambling Legal In Poland

The representatives of the gaming business association (Stowarzyszenie Pracodawców i Pracowników Firm Bukmacherskich – SPiPFB) think that this law helps to reduce the drop in the incomes of Poland from the market of the casino games. According to the calculates of SPiPFB, annually country loses 6 billion zloty ($1,4 billion) of potential taxing costs and the legal market suffers from the unfair competition.