Poland just started talking about the legalization of online poker. Proponents of this idea turned out to be deputy prime minister and concurrently head of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Jaroslav Gauvin.
During the press conference, he told about some innovations in the gambling laws of the country, which was adopted in 2009, and he plans to make a bill and pass it with help of one of the political parties – Poland Together (Polska Razem). Jaroslav Gauvin hopes that these changes will be also supported by other deputies from other parties. However, similar bill, about online casino legalization, have not passed in last year.
First of all, Deputy Prime Minister proposes to replace the tax rate of 12% of turnover on sports betting by 20% on the received income. 10% of the collection, in his opinion, should be distributed among the Polish Olympic Committee and the various organizations dealing with the problems associated with gambling addiction.
Jaroslav Gauvin also offers all licensed Polish casino operators to enter the service of online card games with live casino dealers. At the moment, poker is allowed only in gambling establishments, but, according to the new amendments, it is necessary to make it legal for home use as well. However, the idea to make poker more accessible is slightly out of tune with the official policy of the Ministry of Finance, which spoke strongly against the proliferation of gambling in this form. Nevertheless, Gauvin specifically allocated betting and poker as less “harmful” game than, for example, online slots or slot machines.
In addition, Deputy Prime Minister proposes to give authorities more tools to deal with international operators, working with Polish citizens without a local license. For example, it is necessary immediately to block a domain that is more effective than a ban on cash transactions from financial institutions.
According to Govin, a large part of the online gambling market is controlled by a “gray operators”, which is why the state budget has consistent loss of hundreds of millions of tax revenues.
Jaroslav Govin initiative supported by the president of the Football Association of Poland Zbigniew Boniek. However, here he has his own interest – the new amendments would provide opportunities for sponsorship and collaboration of licensed Polish betting operators with local sports talents. This part of the market could bring about 100 million zloty per year, based on a clear dollar is almost 26 million USD.
