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Online Gambling in Poland
March
13, 2010
The problem with online
gambling in Poland is that people don’t really know if they are coming
or going. They have said that it is illegal to participate in online
gambling, but they don’t actually enforce that ban. They have also said
that they understand the need for online gambling and how much money it
could make them – and even said that they might want to legalize it.
They said that they are currently looking into a regulatory platform so
that they can license online gambling in Poland.
But they have said that as they are not in a position to regulate it
yet, and that online gambling is illegal. The European Union has already
asked them to change their position on online gambling because it goes
against their rules for free trade – which is one of the reasons why
they are trying to legalize it. Again, since nothing has been enforced
or changed – people are participating in it anyway.
However, in January of this year, new laws were implemented that made
advertising online gambling illegal in Poland. All online gambling
interests are banned from advertising anywhere in the country. But the
town of Zakopane just recently held the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup and
they had advertisements up around the event for the online gambling
company Bet-at-Home. Their name and logo had appeared on both the
athletes’ uniforms as well as on banners that hung all around the event
itself. The organizers of the event said that their deal with the online
gambling company preceded the law, so they felt that they were
grandfathered in.
They are now telling them that they have to pay a fine equal to 1.2
million zloty or 300,000 euro. The organizers say that if they have to
pay it they will lose money on the event itself. They are fighting the
fine, and are pushing to have it taken to the European Commission’s
court, where Poland will certainly be in hot water.
