Online Casinos in Poland: What to Know About their Legality

The Polish gambling market appears to be much smaller than its peers in countries like Canada and the United States, and there are some reasons why that’s so. While there’s still so much room for growth for online casinos in Poland, one notable point is that the Polish gambling community is seemingly promising. However, a major challenge the industry still faces is tight restrictions and strict regulations.

According to gaming expert, Jacek Michałski, „Podczas gdy perspektywa rozwoju branży gier w Polsce jest niezwykle obiecująca, głównym jej wyzwaniem jest ulokowanie się odpowiednio w ramach prawnych, co pozwoli hazardowi funkcjonować bez przeszkód. Gdy tylko prawo zostanie zliberalizowane i kasyno online legalne stanie się w naszym kraju faktem, polski rząd uwolni ogromny potencjał tego sektora, co przełoży się na znaczący wzrost gospodarczy. Co więcej, innowacyjność i szeroki wachlarz atutów tej branży sprawią, że będzie ona akceptowana przez dużą część społeczeństwa, a zwłaszcza przez młodsze pokolenia. Kasyna online nie obciążają infrastruktury fizycznej, a koszty ich prowadzenia są niższe, dzięki czemu właściciele takich witryn mogą liczyć na większe zyski.”

This article sheds more light on all you must know about the legality of internet gambling in Poland. Read on for more information.

• Is Online Gambling In Poland Completely Legal?

The Republic of Poland recently became a democratic nation, doing away with the communist reputation and accepting democracy. It also joined the European Union in 2004 as a totally-adopted member.

However, it hasn’t fully accepted the democratic principles in all aspects of jurisdiction within the country, as online gambling is one of the most restricted areas.

• Legal Gambling In Poland: An Overview

Throughout the 1980s and 1900s, internet wagering in the country boomed unregulated. It continued for a couple of years, even when the government established new laws in 1992. However, these laws only stiffened the creation of new casinos, allowing casino providers to open new establishments in cities with a minimum of 250,000 residents.

Seventeen years after then, in 2009, authorized online casino portals experienced the same approach by the government. This occurred until a major scandal involving Miroslaw Drzewiecki, the then Polish Minister of Sports, exposed the government’s corrupt practices that year.

Soon after, the Prime Minister commenced a full attack against internet casinos, releasing a new law that put all virtual gambling portals under tight restrictions. The government launched anti-online gambling laws in both 2009 and 2011, which viewed every other type of gambling, except sports betting, as illegal.

• The Legality Of Polish Internet Casinos

In 2011, the Polish government released the online gambling laws, which restricted citizens from gambling on any site that wasn’t licensed and approved by the government. It also permitted only sports betting platforms and some other predefined-odds betting platforms as legal for users to gamble on.

The legal online casino industry is currently controlled by Totalizator Sportowy, the state-owned gaming portal. In addition, the Polish government has also legalized internet betting sites in Ukraine, Russia, and Curacao.

• The Future Casino Gambling In Poland

Regardless of the tight gambling regulations in Poland, internet gambling within the country seems to still have a promising future. In 2012, the European Court of Justice stood against the Polish government. The court stated that the nation hadn’t informed the European Union Commission of the novel anti-online casino laws that could impact the overall European market.

Presently, the case has been moved back to the national courts, and there are possibilities of a similar probing regarding the Polish Gambling Act of 2011. There is also a chance of the current licensing watchdog relaxing and reopening the market, as the authority recently granted a license to Totoletek, a Poland-based subordinate of Intralot – a casino company with headquarters in Athens, Greece.

Also, several firms have begun negotiations with the government – this has been occurring since 2009 – and some good news is around the corner. Until then, gamblers based in Poland are still accepted in many gaming portals that specifically cater to the needs of bettors in the country. Some of these platforms even offer Polish translations of content on their websites.

Conclusion

In the Republic of Poland, internet gaming sites are tightly restricted, thus, resulting in a lesser number of gamblers within the country than in other European and Western Countries. The regulations legalized only sports betting and a predetermined betting as the accepted gambling in Poland.

While the number of online casinos has grown significantly since 2017, many people believe that foreign casinos dominate the industry. However, this is expected to change in the nearest future as the government is expected to be more friendly to gaming establishments.