Poland’s Costly Licenses Induce Illegal Gambling to Players Detriment

The Ministry of Finance is bent on taking legal action against players on Polish territory who bet on illegal international gambling sites

The Polish government has been clamping down on players visiting illegal online betting companies recently. Disturbed by the large sum of money that illegal internet gambling in Poland is attracting, the Ministry of Finance has decided to take legal action against the players.

The Polish Finance Ministry has subtly threatened to expose over 25,000 illegal players that have been identified and that are under surveillance. Another one thousand players are currently under investigation.

The players have been winning large prizes from the unlicensed global operators accessible in this Eastern European country. Sometimes the sums are quite large, amounting to around $8.3 million or about 2/3 of overall prize money.

Possible compromise on severe tax regime

International operators claim that it is not only the costly licenses that are keeping them out of Poland’s $1.5 billion gambling market. The overly-strict Polish gambling laws and high taxes on online gambling revenues are also major deterrents.

Totolotek, Milenium, Fortuna and STS are the only licensed operators in Poland but have been unable to attract more than 1/10 of the gambling market. The four operators deal mostly in lottery and sportsbook betting.

Besides moving in on illegal players, the government is considering reviewing their policies on international gambling operations. They realize that if given a “wider range of choices” the international operators could generate the much-needed tax revenues.