Poland’s Ministry of Finance is under pressure from Members of Parliament to review how gambling tax is structured in the country. A cross-party committee has expressed concern over the current legislation and is looking to rekindle the licensed bookmaking sector of the economy. They want to see more income generated but believe the current taxation system is repressing growth in the industry.

The cross-party committee is compiled of members of Sejm. Sejm is the lower house of the national legislature of Poland. The committee represents Polish consumers and entrepreneurship. It has submitted a proposal calling on the Ministry of Finance to “abandon the 12% turnover tax applied to sports betting”.

The committee wants the country to adopt the tax system favoured by most EU member states. The standard system applied across the EU to tax gambling services is based on Gross Gambling Revenue (GGR). Poland’s current system is on total turnover.

The European Betting and Gambling Association are supportive of the move, and in a statement on their website, Martin Haijer, Secretary-General, said, “EGBA welcomes the ongoing discussions on the future of Poland’s online gambling regulation and supports changes to the tax base for online sports betting. The current turnover tax is punitively high and not conducive to a viable online gambling market that meets the needs and expectations of Polish players. Poland is a large gambling market and has a great love for sports, and a sensible GGR-based tax would be an incentive for virtually all Polish players to play with regulated websites and for more of Europe’s betting companies, including EGBA members, to consider applying for an online sports betting license. These companies would not only support Polish sports through sponsorships and other revenues, but also pay gaming taxes and contribute to a more viable market which is attractive to Polish bettors and offers them a safe and regulated environment to play in.”

Between 2011 and 2016, a liberalised online gambling market operated for betting and online casinos in Poland. However, following the election of Andrzej Duda’s PiS (Law and Justice Party) to Government, the sector was radically overhauled. As a result, the Treasury was sanctioned to implement radical reforms to Poland’s gambling codes. This led to the remodelling of the makeup of the market in 2017. The changes included the imposition of a 12% turnover tax across all the gambling verticals in the sports betting market. As a result, the activities of online casino gaming were restricted and the domain of the state monopoly in the sector, Totalizator Sportowy, was limited.

The changes in the legislation post-2017 required all licensed operators to have a physical presence in Poland and for the companies to log databases of their players with the Ministry of Finance. This led to many international operators, including William Hill, Olympic Entertainment Group, Bwin and bet365, ceasing to operate in Poland.

The Sejm Committee regards these reforms as regressive compared to other European nations and has urged the Ministry to reconsider its tax policies. The Polish sportsbook trade association, called the PIGBRiB, has previously lobbied the Government. The Sejm Committee has recommended that the Government implement the recommendation of taxing sportsbook activities on GGR and not turnover. The advice is to introduce a flat 22% rate of taxation on sportsbook GGR.

Members of the Sejm Committee are drawn from across the political spectrum. Poland is one of only six European nations that tax betting based on turnover, not GGR. The committee members believe that the current regime suppresses the potential tax-earning income of the sector. The EGBA has carried out independent calculations that show Poland’s 12% turnover tax is equivalent to around a 65% GGR tax rate. This means that, by comparison, Poland has one of the highest online sports betting taxes in the EU.

There was also a question by the committee as to whether the size of the market could be accurately calculated, given that the current data is based on taxed income and not gross proceeds.

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Zagranie, a sports and bookmaking portal based in Poland, launched the first-ever help center in the country called Zapytaj Buka! (Polish for ‘ask the bookmaker’). Now users can ask any questions about their doubts and get quick responses.

Here is how it works.

Every player who has played a little, encountered on his way more or less problems with the bookmaker. Late payment, ambiguity in the coupon calculation or no bonus. These problems will be solved by Zagranie.com experts who constitute a bridge between the user and the bookmaker.

The user asks a question which is forwarded to Zagranie.com experts. They try to solve the player’s problem – until he is satisfied with the answer. If the thread is too complex, then the experts forward the case to the bookmaker, who prioritizes the user’s query as much as possible.

“This type of project was born quite naturally. So far, we have received many inquiries from players on our Facebook or groups, just about the rotating conditions of bonuses, the best offers or coupon settlements. Help Center is the answer to such queries. Everyone can ask a question and other users can go back and save time. The knowledge base is huge. In the Response Help Center, answers “do not get lost in the network” – commented Wiktor Wojtkowski, editor-in-chief of Zagranie.com

Source: E-PLAYOnline

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network

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STS, the premier bookmaker group in Poland, is focusing on further business development in Poland, in spite of the several proposed challenges. STS has categorically ruled out any plans for listing on the stock exchange.

STS currently holds 49 per cent of Poland’s bookmaker’s market in Poland.

“We want to focus on business development in Poland. After the statutory changes, the market is growing all the time. We realise that we will not reach 70 per cent market share, there is an influx of new companies, competition is increasing and the challenge may be to maintain such a high market share. I would be happy if we had 43–45 per cent in five years.” – CEO Mateusz Juroszek told PAP Business.

The President pointed out, quoting the estimates of the “Graj Legalnie”(Play Legally – ed.) Association, that the turnover value of legal bookmaking activities in 2018 should generate about PLN 5 billion. Thus, STS – according to estimates – should make a turnover at the level of approx. PLN 2.5 billion in 2018. In 2017, the STS turnover reached PLN 1.6 billion.

“Analyzing the Italian market, it can be seen that the average Italian spends on one bet five times more than the Pole. The Polish bookmaking market is much younger, Polish society is getting rich, and it has more and more money for betting. Currently, the average amount per bet is PLN 25, and recently it was PLN 19. This should allow us to grow and increase revenues – said president Juroszek – as STS we want to grow faster than the industry in Poland, above all at the expense of illegal competition, which has about 40 per cent of the market” – he added.

The President of STS informed in April that the company has no plans to enter the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which had been mentioned earlier. He also pointed out that the company could make its debut on the London or Stockholm stock exchanges in the future.

 “A few years ago, we said that we would like to go public. Then the company, the stock exchange and the market were in a different situation. We do not need capital, we do not intend to sell the company. Therefore, the stock market debut today is not an interesting topic for us and we do not have any discussions in this matter” – said Mateusz Juroszek.

Source: E-PLAYOnline

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network