Online gambling in Poland: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Poland?

Since 1 April 2017 online gambling in Poland has been a state monopoly with two exceptions: mutual (sports) betting and promotional lotteries, which private companies may offer under a permit from the Minister of Finance. Totalizator Sportowy runs the only legal online casino. Licensed bookmakers pay 12% of turnover rather than a GGR tax, must use a .pl domain and EEA servers, and may advertise only within narrow statutory limits. Unlicensed sites are entered in a public domain register, blocked by internet providers and cut off from Polish payment services.

Partially regulated: Some verticals are licensed (usually betting); others are prohibited or unaddressed.

Who regulates gambling in Poland?

• Ministry of Finance, Department for Gambling Market Regulation and Gambling Tax (MF) — Grants betting permits and casino concessions, approves game rules, maintains the register of prohibited domains and administers gambling tax
• National Revenue Administration (KAS) — Inspections and fiscal-penal enforcement against unlicensed operators, advertisers and players

Poland gambling licence: how it works

Private operators can obtain a permit for mutual betting from the Minister of Finance; no private licence exists for online casino, poker, bingo or slots. Applicants must be a joint-stock or limited-liability company seated in Poland, or an EU/EFTA company already licensed for betting at home that appoints a Polish representative or branch. Share capital must be at least PLN 2 million, a supervisory board is mandatory, and the lawful origin of capital and clean records of board members and shareholders must be documented. The application includes the betting rules, an economic and financial study, the website's technical documentation, the age-verification procedure and a responsible-gaming policy. The statutory decision period is six months and the permit runs for six years.

What an applicant needs

• Joint-stock or limited-liability company seated in Poland or an EU/EFTA state (foreign companies appoint a Polish representative or branch)
• Share capital of at least PLN 2 million, registered shares only, and a supervisory board
• Documented legal origin of capital and criminal-record clearance for board members and shareholders
• .pl domain, servers and real-time data archiving inside the EEA, remote access for the regulator
• Approved betting rules, responsible-gaming policy and age-verification procedure
• Financial security of PLN 480,000 for online betting as a bank guarantee or deposit
• Payments only through the payment institutions listed in the Gambling Act

Gambling taxes in Poland

• Operators: 12% of stakes (turnover) on mutual betting, 2.5% on animal-race betting; 50% of GGR on casino, card, dice and machine games (monopoly only); 25% on poker tournaments; plus 19% corporate income tax.
• Players: 10% flat tax withheld at source on winnings above PLN 2,280 per bet; a rise to 15% passed parliament in 2025 but was vetoed by the President on 18 December 2025, so 10% still applies.
• Also: Gambling tax is settled monthly. Players who use unlicensed sites can be fined 100% of their winnings under the Fiscal Penal Code.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Article 29 of the Gambling Act bans advertising of casino games, slots and betting, with an exception for licensed betting operators. Betting adverts may not target or depict minors, link betting to skill or financial success, or present it as a way out of money problems, and must carry warnings on addiction risk, the ban on underage play and the operator's permit. TV and radio spots are allowed only between 10 pm and 6 am, except during sports events sponsored by the advertiser. Since 2021 domains that advertise unlicensed gambling can be added to the blocking register.

Responsible gaming

Play is limited to adults aged 18 and over. Operators file a responsible-gaming policy for ministerial approval, must give players tools to control spending and time, and include warnings in every commercial communication.

Identity and age verification

Identity is verified when a betting account is opened, using the method described in the operator's approved rules; document and bank-transfer verification are both used. AML due diligence applies to stakes or winnings of EUR 2,000 or more, single or linked.

Payments

Deposits and withdrawals must flow through payment accounts at the categories of payment institutions listed in Article 15e of the Gambling Act (banks, EEA credit, payment and e-money institutions). Providers must stop serving a domain within 30 days of its entry in the register. Cryptocurrency is not an accepted means of payment for licensed betting.

Notable restrictions

• Online casino, poker, bingo and slots may be offered only by Totalizator Sportowy
• Licensed sites must use a .pl domain and store data on EEA servers
• Betting adverts banned on TV and radio between 6 am and 10 pm outside sponsored sports events
• About 51,000 domains were in the blocking register as of October 2025
• Players face fiscal-penal liability for using unlicensed sites

Poland iGaming market: size, players and payments

Licensed betting turnover was about EUR 3.5 billion in 2024 with GGR near EUR 567 million (Global Gaming Insider, 2025); iGaming Express estimated 2025 licensed turnover at EUR 4.4 billion. The Ministry of Finance put the unlicensed share of online GGR at 29.1% in 2023, down from 79.7% in 2016.

Online channels carry more than 90% of licensed betting turnover; an EY study cited by the Graj Legalnie association put channelization at about 76% for betting and 59% for online casino in 2024.

The licensed market is mobile-first: over 93% of 2025 licensed betting turnover was online (iGaming Express), and BLIK, used by roughly 80% of licensed operators' customers, is a mobile-native method.

Nineteen betting permits were in force at the end of 2024. STS (Entain CEE), Betclic, Superbet and Fortuna held about 85% of 2025 turnover; Totalizator Sportowy's Total Casino is the sole legal online casino.

Timeline: how Poland got here

1. 2009-11Gambling Act of 19 November 2009 adopted; online gambling largely banned
2. 2011-07Amendment lets private operators take mutual bets online under a Ministry of Finance permit
3. 2017-04Online casino and slots become a state monopoly; domain register and ISP blocking introduced
4. 2017-07Payment service providers barred from serving domains in the register
5. 2018-12Totalizator Sportowy launches Total Casino, the only legal Polish online casino
6. 2021Register extended to domains that advertise or promote unlicensed gambling
7. 2024-10Ministry of Finance creates the Department for Gambling Market Regulation and Gambling Tax
8. 2025-12President vetoes the winnings-tax increase to 15%; opposition bill on games for virtual goods filed

Outlook

As of September 2026 there is no government draft to open online casino to private operators or to move betting from a turnover tax to GGR; both remain industry proposals without a parliamentary majority. Enforcement keeps tightening through the domain register and pressure on payment providers, and a 2025 opposition bill to license games for virtual goods was still in the Sejm. Operators should plan on the monopoly and the 12% turnover tax persisting through 2026.

Launching in Poland with GameBridge

Turnkey (your licence, our platform). Only a Polish betting permit holder may serve Polish residents, and only with betting products, so the operator holds the permit and runs a sportsbook-led brand on GameBridge technology. GameBridge holds no Polish permit, and casino content cannot be offered to players in Poland.

A Polish brand on GameBridge is configured as a sportsbook-only product: casino, live casino and GameBridge Studios lobbies are hidden for Polish geolocation and only the operator's permitted betting products render on the .pl domain. The site runs in Polish with a PLN wallet, BLIK and bank-transfer rails through the operator's Polish payment institutions, and hosting and data archiving inside the EEA. Registration collects the identity data the approved rules require, limits and warning banners follow the approved responsible-gaming policy, and marketing tools respect the advertising exceptions for licensed betting. Casino-led brands built for other markets keep Poland on the exclusion list by default.

• Vertical-level geo-controls that expose sportsbook only to Polish players
• Polish site language and PLN wallet
• BLIK, Przelewy24 and bank-transfer rails through the operator's Polish PSPs
• EEA hosting and real-time data archiving with regulator access
• Deposit, time and self-exclusion tools mapped to the approved rules
• Turnover-tax reporting fields for the monthly gambling-tax return

Poland is a sports market: football, esports and virtual sports carry the licensed offer, so the GameBridge sportsbook and virtuals catalog do the work. Slots and live casino from the aggregated studios and GameBridge Studios stay disabled for Polish traffic because only the state monopoly may offer them.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Zezwolenie na urządzanie zakładów wzajemnych (betting permit procedure and fees) — biznes.gov.pl, Government of Poland, accessed 2026-09-11
• Podstawowe informacje na temat zezwolenia na urządzanie zakładów wzajemnych (2026 base amount) — Ministry of Finance, Poland, accessed 2026-09-11
• Rejestr Domen Służących do Oferowania Gier Hazardowych Niezgodnie z Ustawą — Ministry of Finance, Poland, accessed 2026-09-11
• Gambling Laws and Regulations Report 2026: Poland — ICLG / WH Partners, accessed 2026-09-11
• Gaming Law 2025: Poland — Chambers and Partners / RM Legal, accessed 2026-09-11
• Poland's president vetoes gambling tax rise — iGB, accessed 2026-09-11
• Legal bookmakers turnover: Betclic leads online, STS retains overall market lead — iGaming Express, accessed 2026-09-11
• How big hopes met old frustrations in Polish iGaming in 2025 — SBC News, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.