Insight POLAND Legislation
Marek Plota, Attorney-at-Law, RM Legal/Gaming-in-Poland.
RM Legal is a Polish law firm offering services to predominantly offshore gambling industry players that operate or plan to operate in Poland. In 2018, RM Legal obtained the only licence ever issued to an offshore operator under the Polish Gambling Act. Gaming-in-Poland is currently the only Polish company specialising in representative services (as defined in the Polish Gambling Act).
www.gaminginpoland.pl www.rmlegal.pl marek.plota@
rmlegal.pl
Polish Gambling Market: New Reality - New Opportunities
The introduction of the ministerial blacklist and associated blocking measures have resulted in many foreign companies leaving the Polish market altogether. Those who remained were promptly blacklisted and consequently blocked. Their response was varied with some deciding to go the licence application route, while others are challenging the new legislation.
Te broadest and, by far, the most significant amendment to the Polish Gambling Act from the time it was enacted on November 19, 2009, came into force on April 1, 2017. Since then, all online gambling games, excluding mutual bets and promotional lotteries, have been subject to state monopoly.
Currently, Totalizator Sportowy S.A., a state-owned company, is the only entity in Poland which legally offers online casino and card games. However, the most important change, allowing for the enforcement of the new law, was the establishment of the Register of Domains which lists domains that offer gambling games contrary to the Polish Act. Tis development has significantly contributed to the growth of the legal gambling market in Poland. Presently, the Register contains 7,845 domains and continues to grow. Since July 1, 2017, both websites of unlicensed operators and the related payment systems have been subject to blocking.
In fact, the introduction of the ministerial blacklist and associated blocking measures have resulted in many foreign companies leaving the Polish market altogether. Tose who remained were promptly blacklisted and consequently blocked. Teir response
P208 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
was varied with some deciding to go the licence application route, while others are challenging the new legislation.
Prior to April 1, 2017 (i.e., the date of the amendment of the Gambling Act), it was estimated that over 90 per cent of the online mutual bets market in Poland was controlled by unlicensed operators who did not pay taxes in Poland. Currently, the market share of legal operators is approximately 60 per cent, with their revenues for 2018 exceeding €1.2bn, i.e., approximately 55 per cent more than in the previous year. Te growth of the legal market is very dynamic, all the more so that the Polish government is highly motivated to increase revenues from the gambling tax.
LICENSE APPLICATION PROCESS At the beginning of 2018, there were only seven
entities licensed by the Minister of Finance to
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