Poland Could Ban Online Gambling

Poland could be about to follow neighbours Russia and Ukraine in banning all forms of online gambling if draft legislation proposed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk is passed.

Tusk revealed last week that his government is drafting legislation that would ban gambling outside of casinos as well as Internet gambling and advertising for games of chance.

The Prime Minister stated that the draft legislation would be ready within weeks and aims to phase out the operation of ‘one-armed bandit’ slot machines and other low stake betting machines outside of casinos over the next five years.

“We are proposing to ban a significant part of the gambling sector,” said Tusk.

“We want to see this market shrink by 20 to 25 percent per year. Over the course of five years this kind of gambling should disappear from Poland.”

To facilitate the ban on online gambling, the draft legislation could also call for the monitoring of connections between Polish Internet providers and international gambling websites and online money transfer providers.

The Prime Minister stated that his proposals also aim to introduce state concessions for casinos alongside new and higher gambling taxes.

Tusk said his government's new hard line on gambling would increase taxation on gambling in order to ‘limit and, if possible, root out’ addictive forms of gambling that could threaten young people including children. For the first time, his legislation would make it illegal for people under the age of 18 to gamble.

The Prime Minister recently accepted the resignation of his Minister Of Sport, Miroslaw Drzewiecki, over allegations that owners of gambling companies were influencing him. The Minister’s name appeared on transcripts in connection with an anti-corruption investigation known as Operation Blackjack and many believe that Tusk is now cracking down on gambling in order to show that he has not been tainted.

Soon after, Tusk also accepted the resignations of Andrzej Czuma, Minister Of Justice, and Grzegorz Schetyna, Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, alongside that of a deputy in the Economy Ministry over the same affair.