Is Online Casino Legal in Poland? What Operators Need to Understand

Search for online casinos in Poland and you will find hundreds of offshore sites accepting Polish players. Search the law and you will find that all of them are operating illegally. Poland is one of the clearest examples in Europe of a market where online casino is legal only for the state. Here is the position and what it means for private operators.

The monopoly

Under the Polish Gambling Act, online games of chance other than mutual betting and promotional lotteries are reserved for the state monopoly. In practice this means online casino games, slots, poker and bingo can only be offered by Totalizator Sportowy, the state-owned operator, through its dedicated online casino. No private licence for online casino exists or can be applied for.

What private operators can offer

Private companies may apply for a licence to organise mutual betting (sports betting, including online) and for permits to run promotional lotteries. Betting is therefore the only meaningful online route for private operators, and it is a licensed, taxed and closely supervised one. Land-based casinos operate under concessions, but this does not extend to any online casino product.

Enforcement tools

Poland enforces the monopoly actively. The Ministry of Finance maintains a public register of domains offering unlicensed gambling to Polish players; internet providers must block access to listed domains and payment providers must refuse transactions to them. Operators, intermediaries and even advertisers can face fiscal-penal liability, and players who use unlicensed sites are also exposed to penalties. Marketing unlicensed gambling in Poland is itself an offence.

The offshore reality

Many offshore operators nonetheless accept Polish players, relying on their Malta or Curaçao licence and mirror domains. This is unlicensed supply under Polish law. Beyond enforcement risk in Poland, it creates problems with the operator’s own regulator, its banks and acquirers, all of which increasingly ask for evidence that operators do not target markets where they are unlicensed. The reputational and commercial cost is often higher than the Polish revenue.

Is change coming?

Liberalisation of the online casino monopoly is periodically discussed in Poland, and the industry lobbies for it, but there is no adopted legislation opening the market to private operators. Any planning should be based on the current law, with liberalisation treated as an upside scenario rather than a base case.

For advice on lawful routes into the Polish market, including mutual betting licensing and promotional lotteries, contact our licensing practice.