Dr Justyna Grusza-Głębicka reports that Poland has initiated a direct fight against grey market gambling payments. In full swing, consequences could be felt beyond Polish borders as stakeholders will likely demand the EU intervene on facilitating illicit payments…

Battleground drawn 

Since 2017, Poland has enforced legislation prohibiting payment service providers (PSPs) from facilitating transactions for websites blacklisted in the country’s Register of Domains Used to Offer Gambling in Violation of the Law. PSPs are required to block such services within 30 days of a domain being listed. In practice, however, enforcement has been inconsistent and the grey market for online gambling has flourished.

Now, Polish regulators are stepping up their efforts. Authorities have turned their focus to the financial intermediaries that continue to process transactions for offshore gambling operators, despite legal prohibitions. The target is clear: the estimated 41% of the market that remains outside the state’s regulatory reach.

Poland operates a monopoly on online casino operations, granted exclusively to Totalizator Sportowy, a state-owned entity. But this monopoly has been persistently undermined by unauthorised operators, many of whom find willing partners among payment institutions that, knowingly or otherwise, enable funds to flow across national and regulatory boundaries.

Coordinated actions

The matter took centre stage at the European Financial Congress, held in Sopot in June, during which the financial sector and the grey area of gambling were discussed. 

Participants included Beata Stelmach, CEO of Totalizator Sportowy; Maciej Akimow, CEO of iGaming Dragon; Tadeusz Białek, representing the Polish Bank Association; Adam Lamentowicz, an executive at Superbet Group and President of the Polish Chamber of Entertainment and Betting Industry; Marcin Mikołajczyk, representing the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF); and Jerzy Mroczek. associated with the BLIK mobile payments system.

The creation of a dedicated task force was proposed, with the aim of combating the transfer of funds to illegal operators.

The declarations made at the Congress quickly found real-world resonance. A discussion broke out on LinkedIn noting that the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) had sent letters to payments companies, stating that it had identified the involvement of certain PSPs of offering payment services related to online gambling in Poland without the required licenses, with some PSPs cooperating with others.

The authority expects payment providers to immediately verify their operations in this context and comply with Poland’s Gambling Act by ceasing to provide such services.

Deep consequences

This is an important message for all entities involved in the payments market. It is worth noting that not every entity technically enabling payments has the status of a payment institution. However, even without such status, it may still be held liable. This includes not only administrative liability but also potential criminal or fiscal-criminal responsibility.

Put simply, payment providers, whether complicit or merely inattentive, can be viewed as “enablers of a shadow economy”. Though Poland is now moving assertively, its experience mirrors that of many EU member states struggling to contain grey-market gambling without a harmonised legal framework.

Spotlight on Brussels 

There are currently no unified EU-level regulations concerning gambling apart from a few specific provisions applicable across all Member States – at least for now.

However, there is a clear trend towards harmonisation in the financial regulatory space. The gambling sector has found ways to operate underground and has embraced cryptocurrencies. 

Still, we now have the MiCA Regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation), which introduces harmonised EU-wide rules on crypto-assets, specific requirements for entities operating in this space, and applicable AML procedures.

Whether this signals a more coordinated European approach to gambling oversight remains to be seen. But the message from Warsaw is unmistakable: those facilitating illegal gambling whether operators, affiliates, or financial intermediaries will no longer be given a pass.

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Author Bio:  Dr Justyna Grusza-Głębicka is a lawyer and expert in gambling law in Poland. She holds a Doctor of Laws degree, with her doctoral dissertation focused on the issue of state monopoly in the gambling sector. She runs her own law firm, specializing in gambling law, compliance-related matters, particularly anti-money laundering (AML), audits, legal opinions, and obtaining licenses for gambling operators. 

Dr Grusza-Głębicka is an active participant in academic conferences and the author of numerous publications, both scholarly and industry-oriented. In 2024, she was nominated for the prestigious Rising Stars – Lawyers of Tomorrow award, organized by Wolters Kluwer.