Poland – Online Casinos & Gambling Regulations

Finding the best Polish casino online

Officially speaking, only casino and sports betting sites that have a license from the Ministry of Finance can operate legally within the country. However, that governing body has only granted a license to the state-run Totalizator Sportowy. In effect, this has created a monopoly, where the only legal forms of gambling such as lotteries, land-based casinos, sports betting retail stores, arcade parlors, and online casinos are all run by Totalizator Sportowy. Therefore, all other online casinos in Poland operate outside of the law.

This doesn’t affect players, as such, and many do play online from within Poland and face no legal repercussions because of this. However, sites run from outside of Poland have been blacklisted within the country and many more are being added to this list every few months. Therefore, the number of gambling sites that are still accessible from Poland and accepting of Polish players is gradually dwindling. 

Nevertheless, it is still possible to find websites that offer slots, table games, and live dealer titles to players within the country, as well as bonuses and promotions in Polish zloty. The best way to find out about them is by reading through the GoodLuckMate casino reviews, where we will detail all of the accepted countries, available languages, and payment method options. So, before signing up with a new brand, be sure to do all of the following:

• Read GoodLuckMate’s casino reviews
• Check the available payment methods
• See if you can play using Polish zloty
• Check if the site is translated into Polish
• Read through the welcome bonus T&Cs

If you wish to proceed, click the welcome bonus banners on our reviews to get the best offers.

Gambling regulation – The legal situation in Poland

As stated above, any site that wants to operate legally within the country needs to obtain a license from the Ministry of Finance. However, because of certain restrictions in the 2017 update to the Polish Gambling Act, this license is only available to the state-owned Totalizator Sportowy. Therefore, even if entrepreneurs in the country or businesses based in other parts of Europe (or further afield) want to offer casino games to Polish nationals, it is impossible for them to do it in full accordance with the law. This is why Poland is considered to be a grey market.

Having said all this, there are no penalties for players who want to play slots or bet on sports, so a great many people within the country still gamble online without worry. However, businesses can and regularly are blacklisted and access to them is removed by Polish ISPs. Gradually, then, the list of casinos that can be accessed within the country without VPNs is getting smaller.

Localized online casinos

Despite the threat of being blacklisted at any moment, some of the biggest brands (and some of the smaller ones too) have indeed localized their sites to suit audiences within Poland. This includes advertising their welcome bonus deals using amounts written in Polish zloty, as well as providing the ability for the site to be switched into the language of your choice. Furthermore, there are more than a few websites that provide round-the-clock customer support in the language, and you can find live dealer games that feature Polish-speaking croupiers. 

Casinos in Poland

There are plenty of land-based casinos offering a range of slot machines, classic table games such as roulette, blackjack, and baccarat (among others), and games of skill such as poker. By far the most likely place to find the best casinos is in the major cities of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Wroclaw, and Poznan. Some of the most popular and well-known establishments include the Casinos Poland Wroclaw, Orbis Casino Sofitel Victoria Hotel in Warsaw, Orbis Casino Novotel Centrum Hotel in Katowice, Grand Casino City Hotel in Bydgoszcz, and Orbis Casino Marriott Hotel in Warsaw. Also, state-run lottery and sports betting stores can be found all over Poland.