The legalization of some types of gambling in Poland did not make it freely accessible everywhere. The Polish gambling market still has certain restrictions which make it difficult to conduct gambling business. More extensive freedom can be observed in the online casino sector. Gamblers have lots of opportunities to play and receive various bonuses. Thus, in Poland, they may search for “darmowe spiny w kasynie za rejestrację” and look for the available online slots and other casino games. Many of them are subordinated to the Totalizator Sportowy. The situation with land-based casinos is somewhat different, and they are imposed by another law, which makes it difficult to open a casino in Poland because the available space has already been occupied by the other casinos.
How to play according to the state’s rules?
The majority of land-based casinos are located in large hotels. It is made to attract the attention of gamblers with a luxurious interior and enough space for players to enjoy the play. Of course, illegal facilities are still present in underground casinos, but when they are revealed, they are immediately closed. The organizers of illegal gambling will be penalized $1.1 million. The operator may also be penalized if they offer games and services that are not provided according to the previously obtained license. That is why not everyone risks opening illegal Polish casinos because they may lose everything.
The required license for games
The land-based casinos in Poland require different types of licenses depending on the games they offer:
- Casino games require the corresponding license;
- Cash bingo requires the bingo game hall permission;
- Betting operations require the corresponding permission as well.
Among all these permissions, the most difficult permission to obtain remains the casino license.
Requirements related to land-based casinos
As was already mentioned, casinos may be opened in specific places with the required license or permit. In casino facilities, it is possible to play roulette, card and dice games, and try your fortune on slot machines. The number of casinos that may be opened is strictly limited by the law. If a city or a village has a population of up to 250 thousand inhabitants, only one casino facility can be opened there. The cities that have a larger population allow opening only one casino per each 250 thousand inhabitants (hence, three casinos are possible for 750 thousand inhabitants and so on). But if the city is divided into provinces (województwa), then it is impossible to open more than one land-based casino for each 650 thousand of the population in the province.
The mentioned above statistics are supported by the fact that the capital of Poland, Warshaw, has only two land-based casinos.
- The first one, Century Casino, is located in a Hilton Hotel. There, gamers may try 24 card games and 70 slot machines.
- The second one, Casino Poland, is located in Hotel Marriott. The number of slot machines there is also 70, and the number of table games is 27.
As of March 2022, the number of working licensed casinos reached 50. Nine of them are located in great hotel complexes in different large cities in Poland.
Other Gambling Facilities
Bingo halls were created for cash bongo. The number of the required facilities is limited to one bingo hall per 100 thousand inhabitants ( in a province, one facility is allowed per 300 thousand dwellers). However, there are no such official facilities nowadays in Poland.
Betting shops provide the services of totalizator and bookmaking. The Polish law does not impose restrictions on the number of facilities, but there number is only 11 facilities across Poland.
The restrictions towards slot machines are the following. It’s allowed to have only one slot machine per 1,000 inhabitants in one province. In 2022, there were more than 800 slot machine saloons across the state. However, their number is continually increasing because of the large interest from gamblers. As a result, all these restrictions make it somewhat difficult to open a casino facility in Poland.
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