“The share of the shadow economy in the online gambling market in Poland has decreased from 80 to approx. 25 percent over 4 years. This is the effect of the changes in the gambling law in force since 2017, as well as the activities of the National Revenue Administration and the increasingly better offer of legal operators”, the participants of the debate on the fight against illegal gambling stated during the Economic Forum in Karpacz.
Head of the National Revenue Administration, Bartosz Zbaraszczuk emphasized that the shadow economy in gambling in Poland fell below the EU threshold. As a result, tax revenues from legal games are growing: in 2021 they exceeded PLN 3 billion, which means an increase by 30% yearly.
“We focus on cutting off criminals from their property,” Bartosz Zbaraszczuk said.
President of the Supervisory Board at BETFAN & President of the Supervisory Board at ZPPRiG, Łukasz Łazarewicz said that the bettingindustry in Poland has also been developing dynamically since 2017, i.e. from the entry into force of the amendment to the gambling law. The market is growing in terms of turnover and the number of operators, of which there are currently 23.
Highlighting the effective actions of the National Revenue Administration in combating points offering illegal games and bets throughout Poland, Łukasz Łazarewicz pointed out that a significant problem is the area of online games, where global companies operate, often listed on international stock exchanges but without a license for the Polish market.
President of Totalizator Sportowy Sp. z o.o., Olgierd Cieślik claims that further reducing the shadow economy may be successful thanks to raising players’ awareness that they can use the only legal online casino in Poland and 1,200 legal points offering slot games.
In turn, according to Łukasz Łazarewicz, it would be a good step to license not only gaming and betting operators, but also product suppliers for this market or payment service providers.