Part 2: Poland – growth at a price
against PL128m, which would suggest that part of employers’ lobbying group the Polish
online was now worth two-thirds of the total Entrepreneurs Foundation, which is calling for
turnover figure. former grey market operators that now have
Fortuna remains the market leader and its last
licences to be thrown out of the market altogether.
financial report, from May last year, suggested
that the momentum from 2017 carried over into New entrants
the first three months of 2018, with amounts Such an illiberal move would be highly damaging,
staked rising by a triple-digit percentage, not least because despite the relatively small size
“primarily driven by online”. and scope of the Polish market, there is still the
Dynowski says the most important betting
potential for further new entrants to enter the
operators in Poland are Fortuna, Totolotek, space. The rash of new names last year suggests
Milenium, STS and LV Bet. as much, says Andruszaniec.
“In general they are rather not lobbying for
“Poland, because of its size and population,
further liberalisation because they are actually is definitely an interesting market for everyone,”
quite happy with the existing status quo and are he says. “Successful licence applications from
primarily focused on fiercely combatting offshore Cherry and Betclic show this beyond doubt. Even
operators,” he adds. “There is some lobbying for with limited product scope and the exclusion of
slightly cutting down tax rates in Poland, but so casino games from the licensing system, many
far it has not been very successful.” (are) prepar(ing) their market entrance, as some
A legal challenge is also working its way
through the Polish courts, brought by offshore
licence proceedings are still pending.”
For now, all eyes will be on the Totalizator
operators that believe the Polish laws, limiting Sportowy and Playtech partnership to see how that
operators to a single product and offering casino manages to translate grey market casino activity
as a monopoly to the lottery, are in contravention into the regulated realm. However, doubtless the
of EU law. pair will be aware that the rest of the market is
Muddying the water, though, is a move on the
iGaming Business Market Monitor • February 2019
unlikely to wish them too much success.
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