Official language: Polish
Population: 38,116,000
Currency: Zloty (PLN)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = 4.1599 PLN
1 GBP = 4.5844 PLN
1 USD = 2.7786 PLN

Sports Betting in Poland
Most sports betting in Poland is controlled by three companies. Each betting shop run by one of these companies must be licensed by the Polish governed. Sports wagers in Poland are always taxed twice. First, a 10% tax is levied on all turnover made by a betting shop. Then, winning bets must pay an additional 10%. Despite this high taxation, sports betting is a very lucrative business in Poland.

The biggest Polish sportsbook operator is Totolotek, who operates over 600 betting shops throughout Poland. STS is number two with 400 points of sale across the country. The UK bookmaker Stanleybet bought STS in 2008 and the company could be in the lead within a year. The third player in the Polish bookmaker market is Professional, which used to be the largest. Professional uses Czech software supplied by Tefpunkt.

Online Sports Betting in Poland
Polish online sportsbooks are currently not legal. The Polish government does not give licenses to operate online betting sites in Poland and they have banned the use of foreign sportsbooks and other websites offering online gambling. Despite the ban, Polish punters regularly gamble at foreign websites and there are large international online sportsbooks that offer Polish versions of their site.

The Polish government has recently been considering legalizing and regulating online gambling. If this does happen, it seems likely that the three major players in the polish sports betting industry would make the move to the internet. STS, now owned by Stanleybet, would have a clear advantage because of Stanleybet's internet betting operations in other countries around Europe. Until regulation changes, Polish punters must use foreign sportsbooks online against their government's will.