Poker in Poland: Tournaments, Casinos and Online – What Is Legal

Poker occupies an unusual position in Polish law. It is expressly classified as a game of chance, which brings it entirely within the Gambling Act, yet the Act also provides specific rules for poker tournaments that have created a limited legal space outside casinos. Here is what is and is not permitted.

Poker as a game of chance

The Gambling Act lists poker among card games that are games of chance, regardless of the skill involved. This classification is settled and has been upheld by the courts. The consequence is that organising poker for money requires a concession, a permit or a notification under the Act, and doing so without one is illegal gambling.

Poker in casinos

Licensed land-based casinos may offer cash-game poker and poker tournaments under their concession, subject to approved game rules, and this is where most legal live poker in Poland takes place. Casino poker is taxed under the casino regime, and players’ winnings from casino games are exempt from personal income tax.

Tournaments outside casinos

The 2017 amendment introduced the possibility of organising poker tournaments outside casinos on the basis of a notification to the director of the tax administration chamber, subject to conditions. The tournament must be organised by an entity meeting the statutory requirements, the buy-in and prize structure must comply with limits set by the Act, winnings may only be in kind or limited in value, and the organiser must ensure that no one under eighteen participates. The rules are restrictive and the space is used mainly for club and charity events rather than commercial tournaments.

Online poker

Online poker is a game of chance organised via the internet and therefore falls within the state monopoly. Only the state operator may offer it, and it does not currently do so on a meaningful scale. Foreign online poker rooms accepting Polish players operate without a Polish permit, and both the operators and, in principle, the players are exposed to fiscal-penal liability. Domains of poker sites are routinely added to the register of prohibited domains.

Home games

Private poker games among friends without an organiser profiting from the game are generally regarded as outside the Act’s scope, but the line between a private game and organised gambling is not defined in the statute, and games with rake, entry fees for the organiser or public advertising cross it.

Enforcement

The customs and tax administration has conducted raids on illegal poker clubs and tournaments, seizing cash and equipment and initiating fiscal-penal proceedings against organisers. Organisers of unlicensed poker face fines and, in serious cases, imprisonment.

Our licensing practice advises casinos, clubs and organisers on lawful poker formats and the notification procedure.