Chapter 2: Market overviews
Finally, membership of the EU has strongly benefited the economies and living standards of most
Eastern and Central European countries and gambling brands cannot afford to ignore those huge
opportunities that exist in the region’s respective gambling markets.
Poland
Country
Most popular sports
Poland
Football, track and field athletics, basketball, boxing,
fencing, American football, handball, ice hockey,
swimming, volleyball and weightlifting
Football is Poland’s most popular sport, with a rich history of international competition. It co-hosted
EURO 2012 with Ukraine. Other popular sports in the country include track and field athletics,
basketball, boxing, fencing, American football, handball, ice hockey, swimming, volleyball and
weightlifting. The first Polish Formula One driver, Robert Kubica, has also increased popularity of
Formula One racing in the country. And Poland has also made a distinctive mark in motorcycle
speedway racing thanks to Tomasz Gollob, a highly successful Polish rider.
The origins of Poland’s gaming industry go back to the 1980s. Since then the sector has come on in
leaps and bounds. Spurred by membership in the EU and the subsequent economic benefits, Poles
now spend double the time gambling than they did in 2007.
According to a report compiled by Roland Berger, the Polish gambling market generates around €1bn
every year.
It was announced that the managing director of one of Poland’s licensed gaming operators has asked
the local regulator to reduce the current tax rate and to take due measures after the publication of
a report, according to which unlicensed operators hold a 90% share in the country’s online gaming
market.
Mateusz Juroszek, who is taking the position of a chief executive officer of STAR-TYP SPORT (STS), one
of the four operators that are allowed to offer their services on the Polish market, pointed out that a lot
of things could be done to prevent unlicensed companies from providing their services in the country.
Thus, Poland will become much more attractive to foreign operators.
Juroszek commented that this can be achieved by lowering the current taxes that are imposed on
licensed operators and by blocking the operations of unauthorised sites. He pointed out that this has
proven to be quite successful in several European countries.
Under the Polish Gambling Act, licensed operators need to pay a 12% tax on their revenue. What is
more, local bookmakers can only operate if licensed by the Ministry of Finance.
Juroszek stated that all operators that have been registered in Gibraltar or Malta, for instance, are still
able to provide their services to Polish customers without any apparent restrictions.
The executive’s comments came after a study conducted by Betting Expert, a local online betting
community, found out that the four licensed gambling operators’ revenues constituted only 10% of
the overall revenue generated in December 2014.
As it was reported, STS turned out to be the most highly profiting licensed operator with 4% of the
entire revenue. Totolotek, Millenium, and Fortuna shared a modest 6%.
58 Digital Sports Betting