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Lawmakers from both Polish parliamentary chambers are developing a draft bill to open up the country’s poker market to allow Polish-based consumers to play outside of casinos and online in a move intended to lure players away from the black market.
During a recent session of the Free Market Parliamentary Team, MP Przemysław Wipler discussed illegal gambling in Poland, looking into the challenges in tackling it and proposed solutions.
In a video published on March 27, Wipler said that his Confederation (Konfederacja) party is developing new legislation in response to requests made by local poker game players, which could help drive more players to the licensed market.
Under Polish law, online cash poker games are illegal for Polish-based players.
Cash poker tournaments can only be hosted by casinos.
Winnings obtained at these tournaments are subject to a tax rate of 25 percent. Several representatives of the country’s gambling industry have previously decried the rate as excessively high.
“We understand the issues, challenges related to AML and dirty money laundering with the use of such games, because, as we understand, this is one of the reasons behind such a tough stance … but, on the other hand, we see that this simply does not work and is inefficient,” Wipler said.
The politician added that “there is a big need [to amend this legislation], and the group of people who play poker is not small”.
Wipler is a close collaborator of lawmaker Sławomir Mentzen, Confederation’s leader, who is a candidate in the country’s May 2025 presidential election.
In January 2024, shortly after Poland’s incumbent Cabinet was sworn in, Mentzen called on the government to legalise cash poker games outside casinos and overhaul the country’s taxation of such games.
The lawmaker said that this could spur additional revenue for the state budget.
As Confederation is part of Poland’s opposition, it is unknown whether the country’s government, formed in December 2023 by a coalition of centre-right, liberal and left-wing parties led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, will revise the gambling law.
The legislation that would need to be altered was passed by the country’s previous right-wing Cabinet.
In 2019 to 2023, during the previous term of the Sejm, Confederation lawmakers were active in the lower chamber’s Consumer and Entrepreneurs’ Protection Team.
As part of its work, the parliamentary team submitted an official gambling policy proposal document in 2022 to the Ministry of Finance. In their proposal, the MPs called on the ministry to introduce a gross gambling revenue (GGR) tax on bookmaking.
