One yr following the introduction of the Gambling Act


The historical past of the most recent amendment to the Gambling Act is extended, complex, rich in brawls and doubts. In the finish, however, the rulers succeeded in voting via the edition that is still in force these days.

The provisions of the Gambling Act were extremely controversial, some of them nevertheless can't be accepted by some gamblers, but the battle dust has presently subsided and we can look at the gambling marketplace calmly.

If you do not know the case or want to consider a closer appear at the provisions of the Gambling Act 2017, we have a thorough examination of the new rules that apply to the two players and entrepreneurs.

This time we want to search at the situation of bookmakers and on-line casinos in Poland. How did the legal revolution deal with them? Has anyone benefited from it?

The gray industry is shrinking.

The aim of the amendment to the Gambling Act was to eradicate the so-known as gray industry of mutual betting and other gambling routines. Until the new law came into force, foreign bookmakers who did not pay out taxes in Poland and made their services obtainable below European Union law attracted Polish players with their winnings - not burdened with large Polish tax. The State Treasury lost even hundreds of hundreds of thousands of zlotys a year in this way.

According to the Association for the Liquidation of the Grey Zone of Mutual Enterprises in Poland "Perform Legally", since the Gambling Act came into force, the grey zone of the bookmaker has substantially shrunk. According to the report "Counteracting the Grey Zone in Poland", in the very first months of 2017 right after the entry into force of the Bookmaker's Act, in comparison with the identical time period in 2015, the grey zone of bookmaker's betting decreased from about 84% of the industry share to about 62%. Furthermore, already in the very first 3 quarters of 2017, the State revenue from taxes paid on legally working bookmakers elevated by about 95% in contrast to the identical time period in the previous year. In other words: from January to September 2017, the State Treasury earned PLN 130 million.

What did the Gambling Act do?

The biggest revolution that the new Gambling Act launched in 2017 was the Gambling Domain Register. Naga303 link alternatif Any site of a bookmaker and/or on-line casino supplying unlawful participation in the game to clients from Poland will be incorporated in the register. Then, inside 48 hrs of the entry, every Internet provider in the nation is obliged to block its clients from accessing the forbidden website.

The exact same process resulted in numerous foreign operators withdrawing from Poland voluntarily (gamers from Poland were no longer allowed to play the game) or the road to them was closed. In this way, players who utilized their providers primarily had to permanently move to Polish bookmakers with a license.

The Bookmaker Act also increased the betting tax. The price of every coupon is topic to twelve% tax deducted from the stake, which is credited to the State Treasury (the exception is a particular offer of the game with out tax, but this does not alter the truth that the funds goes to the budget - not from your pocket, but from the bookmaker's account).

New bookmakers in Poland

Given that foreign bookmakers withdrew from Poland, numerous (even dozen or so) inclined to open legal bookmakers' internet sites have reported to the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the regulations. Rumours (and official info) stated that among them there have been also well-known operators from Europe, e.g. bet365 and William Hill.

A year has passed. Superbet appeared on the Polish market, although only as a ground bookmaker. Not significantly? In contrast to how several applications went to the ministry, it is not much. Will the speed of getting 1 bookmaker a year by the gamers be maintained? There are several indications that some thing must be moving in the subject matter. New brand names have currently been confirmed, e.g. Totalbet and eWinner, which should begin in 2018.

Polish online casino

The sport totalizator has been appointed as a monopolist in the provision of on-line gambling. The tender for the contractor of the contract, which is eKasino (Polish on-line casino), was announced only in the last days of August 2017 and resolved at the end of February 2018. The winner was Playtech, a single of the greatest and most well-known casino software developers. This permits us to believe positively about the eKasino undertaking, as this is how the Polish on-line casino is referred to as a 12 months after the entry into force of the Gambling Act. The identify is semi-official so far.

The terms of the tender stipulated that Playtech has no less than 6 months, but no more than 9 months (counting from the date of signing the contract) to launch the casino in Poland. Since the pertinent documents had been signed at the end of February 2018, the casino ought to seem no earlier than in the last days of August, but no later on than in the last days of November 2018. This implies that the Polish on-line casino will be opened for about 1.5 many years following the amendment to the Gambling Act comes into force.

Why only 1 casino?

As far as gambling is concerned (each on-line and genuine gambling), the rulers determined that it would be below rigid state control. This is why the two on-line casinos and slot machines will be below the supervision of a monopoly (authority), Totalizator Sportowy, which is, of program, a state-owned organization.

Why must there be only a single online casino and there could be numerous bookmakers? We do not see any other reasons than a single: there have been presently legal bookmakers in Poland (STS, Fortuna, Totolotek, LVbet, eToto, Millennium, forbet) who provided taxes to the budget. There have been no on-line casinos, nonetheless, since the regulations did not allow for them prior to. It was made the decision that if Poles like to play on the internet machines, on the internet poker, etc., they ought to perform - but only exactly where it is straightforward to manage.

Who acquired the most from Bookmaker's Act?

With out thinking too long, you can obviously reply that the Gambling Act 2017 was the most profitable for the State Treasury and the bookmakers who received the Polish license. Prior to the new rules came into force, 90% of the Polish marketplace was in the hands of foreign operators who did not pay out taxes. The register of Prohibited Events presently consists of nearly 1600 things and is nevertheless being supplemented with new ones, which seals the gambling marketplace in Poland. Suffice it to say that in the very first quarter of 2018, 48% of the Polish marketplace belongs to STS and thirty% to Fortune.

What else is ahead of us?

2018 is to carry us the e-Casino from Totalizator Sportowy and Playtech, a solution we have been waiting for because the initial information about the state monopolist appeared. Moreover, we count on at least one a lot more new bookmaker (in June 2018 Cherry On-line Polska was licensed) and we hope that foreign brand names such as bet365, bwin or William Hill will lastly be admitted to us.

What are the chances of any significant changes on the Polish gambling industry? Really little, though we would like our law to legalize the well-liked bingo and facilitate the organization of poker tournaments. Will this occur? We can only wait.