EC Rejects Polish Gambling Law
The Polish government had decided to legalize and regulate online gambling. In this connection it had submitted a draft law to the European Commission (EC) for approval. The EC has sent back the draft law asking the Polish government to make changes, though the official line is that they have asked for more information.
The problem with the proposed law is that it is not conducive to European online gaming operators applying for Polish licenses and this would defeat the EC objective of having a common playing field in online gambling across Europe. The online gaming operators would be required to form a joint stock company in Poland and would have to maintain their servers in Poland. The financial transactions would have to be carried out through Polish banks. The financial guarantees and license fees for online operators have been fixed at higher levels than compared to land based operators. There are some unreasonable advertising restrictions as well.
Many of these requirements have been imposed with a stated view to prevent fraud and protect the online casino player. However, the online gambling operators are geared to meet the objectives of fraud prevention and customer protection without being located in Poland, because their licensing authority also mandates that the same precautions be taken. Therefore the Polish law would result in duplication of resources and this would add to the cost making the operations uneconomical.
Poland has up to wait up to mid August. Thereafter they can implement the law as proposed but would risk legal action from the EC. Or they can make the changes suggested and resubmit the draft law for approval.
