Sports Betting Online in Polski Złoty (PLN)
Residents of Poland can no longer directly use the best online betting sites. In years past, top foreign operators supported our language. Ladbrokes, SBO, and Pinnacle Sports offered accounts in Polski Złoty (PLN). We could deposit with NETELLER and Skrill, and some websites supported Przelewy24. Unfortunately, our government has since cracked down. Gambling sites targeting Poland must now hold a Polish Gambling License.
Polish licensed bookmakers must file quarterly reports. They pay 12% tax on betting turnover. There is also a 10% tax assessed to players on wins exceeding PLN 2,280. In turn, betting sites must withhold that tax from players’ payouts. Foreign bookmakers exited in 2017 over these regulatory requirements and high tax rates. As of March 2019, there are 15 betting sites licensed in Poland.
Due to the high tax rate, Polish bookmakers offer poor odds. Despite that, our legal gambling market is soaring. In 2016, betting turnover at Polish licensed Bookmakers was PLN 1.7 Billion. On 1 April 2017 foreign operators exited the Polish market. As a result, 2017 betting turnover jumped to PLN 3.3 Billion. In 2018, it rose to PLN 5.1 billion. That is a 55% increase in one year, and triple 2016 figures.
Polish Licensed Gambling Websites – 2019
Although there are 15 Polish licensed bookmakers, three companies have 89% market share.
www.sts.pl is the website of the largest bookmaker in Poland, Star-Typ Sport Sp. z o.o. (STS). Founded in 1997, they have over 1,300 employees. They sponsor the football club Jagiellonia Białystok and our Polish National Team. Their company has approximately 48% of our legal betting market share.
www.efortuna.pl is the betting site of our second largest bookmaker. It is ran by Fortuna Online Zakłady Bukmacherskie Sp. z o.o. Their parent Fortuna Entertainment Group trades on the Warsaw and Prague Stock Exchange. Founded in the Czech Republic in 1990, they now offer bookmaking in many countries. Their share of our legal betting market is 31%.
www.totolotek.pl is the third largest online betting site in Poland with about 10% market share. Totolotek is a native Polish company based in Warsaw. They are part of the Intralot Group – a huge gambling company with over 5,500 employees. Intralot operates games, lotteries, gambling, and sports betting in 53 countries. They have about 10% of our legal betting market share.
12 bookmakers combine for the remaining 11% market share. These are Milenium Zakłady Bukmacherskie, E-TOTO Zakłady Bukmacherskie, forBET Zakłady Bukmacherskie, LV BET Zakłady Bukmacherskie, Totalbet Betting Bookmakers, Cherry Online Polska, BEM Operations Limited, BetFan, Ewinner, Typiko, Superbet Zakłady Bukmacherskie, and Traf Zakłady Wzajemne. Keep in mind, these figures cover only the legal betting market.
Use of Foreign Online Bookmakers is Still High
Though legal betting is booming, use of illegal bookmakers is still high. Our bookmakers cannot offer us competitive odds because they need to pay 12% tax on turnover. We bet their poor odds and then pay 10% tax on our wins. This is why those serious about betting for long-term profit use foreign bookmakers. Professional punters in Poland often use bitcoin betting sites and Asian bookies.
Bitcoin Betting Sites
www.5dimes.eu and www.nitrogensports.eu are my favourite bitcoin betting sites. 5Dimes converts bitcoin deposits to USD. Likewise, you hold a USD account and place bets in that currency too. You can still cash out in bitcoin, with payment coming at the current exchange rate. At Nitrogen your balance remains bitcoin. You place wagers in bitcoin too. Both sites are discount bookies that are friendly to professional players. In other words, they offer great odds and have acceptable betting limits.
Asian Bookies
Asian Bookies focus on offering betting to professional punters based in Asia. They have discounted odds on football. In other words, they have the best odds. In-play wagering is available too. To service expats, they offer betting on about every football league in the world. Likewise, Ekstraklasa and I liga polska odds are on offer. Though targeted to Asian punters, smart bettors from all over the world use their sites.
Top Asian Bookies include SBOBet, 188Bet, Pinnacle888, and 12Bet. They do accept players from Poland. Thus, we need to use a betting agent to access these sites. Their agents hold licenses in havens, such as the Caribbean or special economic zones. Once you have an account with the agent you can use that agent’s interface to bet at a half dozen or more Asian Bookies.
Per SBS policy, I cannot recommend any specific agent. Thus, the next best step is to Google search how to use SBO and Pinnacle Sports via an agent from Poland. This topic is often discussed on betting forums. So, if you get creative with your search terms, you should not have a difficult time learning how this works.