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Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin announced the Polish government is working on a new gambling bill, which will liberalize sports betting and online poker. 

 

On-line Gambling coming to Poland

Gowin said that “Poland suffered enormous, multi-billion losses” as a result of a bill introduced by the previous Polish government referring to the Gambling Act, introduced in 2009 by then prime minister Donald Tusk, which banned gambling outside casinos and online.

“That is why a few months ago we decided to change the law so that money flowed back into the national budget,” Gowin told Radio Polskie. He added that Poland has consulted with the European Commission, which gave its green light to move ahead.

According to the latest draft, slot machines would be nationalized, operating under the national lottery services. However, Govin said, bookmakers would still operate in the fringe economy. “Over the next several months gambling will remain in [a shady area of the economy], and Poles will continue to lose PLN 100-300 million a month,” Gowin said.

The new law would “liberalize” the system in such a way that it would be “safe to use bookmaker services, and play poker online”.