Warsaw’s latest idea for taming the gambling industry is to tax it harder, as Parliament plans to increase tax on customer winnings to 15%, a move which Dr Justyna Grusza-Głębicka observes will undermine efforts to draw gamblers away from the black market.

The Ministry of Finance of Poland will once more return to an easy source of money: the nation’s gamblers.

In Warsaw, the Sejm is preparing to amend the Personal Income Tax Act to capture a greater share of winnings from games of chance, betting, lotteries and marketing prizes.

An official draft is yet to emerge, but insiders cite that a plan will take effect from January 2026 containing articles to “extend to winnings earned abroad”.

Poland will expand its remit on player taxes even within the supposedly borderless EU/EEA market. In short, the government wants a larger cut from every winning cent, whether wagered in Warsaw or elsewhere.
Current tax scheme

Let’s begin at the roots of the matter. In Poland, the primary tax paid by entities organising gambling is the gambling tax. The rate of this tax is set out in the Gambling Act of 19 November 2009 and varies depending on the type of game.

For example, in betting, the rate is 12%, while in slot or cylindrical games it is 50%. Each type of game has a different tax base. For instance, in betting it is the total amount of stakes placed, while in slot games it is the difference between the total stakes and the total winnings paid out to players.

In addition to this, there is also the tax on winnings, which represents an additional fiscal burden on top of the gambling tax. Currently, this tax amounts to 10% of the prize or winnings. If a player participates in a game organised in Poland, the tax is collected at source – by the gambling operator. The player does not have to declare it in their annual income statement.

However, if the tax is not withheld at source, the winnings are subject to a flat-rate personal income tax, provided that the player is a Polish tax resident. In such cases, double taxation treaties may also be relevant.

In practice, this means that if someone wins PLN 10,000 (circa €2100) with a bookmaker, 10% (PLN 1,000) is automatically withheld from the payout. Of course, players have developed their own strategies to avoid exceeding certain thresholds but the game would be much simpler if they didn’t have to be so careful.

Winnings from number games, cash lotteries, telebingo, betting, promotional lotteries, audiotex lotteries, and prize lotteries are exempt from tax if their single value does not exceed approximately €520.

Meanwhile, winnings from slot games, card games, dice games, roulette, cash bingo, and prize bingo, organised by an authorised entity under the gambling laws of an EU or EEA member state, are fully exempt from tax, regardless of the amount. This exclusion, however, may soon change.

Playing a heavy hand

The draft legislation proposes increasing the tax rate on winnings from 10% to 15%. According to the government’s justification, the current 10% rate, which has remained unchanged since 2001, no longer reflects the real value of wagering in today’s market.

The government also refers to the concept of “behavioural taxation,” arguing that higher rates are intended to increase the “corrective effect” of such taxes. In the government’s view, low tax rates fail to influence consumer behaviour, and the associated “health benefits” (in the case of certain product taxes) are too minor to be measurable. The planned increase is therefore intended to boost state budget revenues and restore balance in the taxation of prizes.

For players, this means that a greater portion of their winnings will go to the tax authorities. For example, a person who wins PLN 10,000 will now have to pay PLN 1,500 in tax instead of PLN 1,000.

At this stage, however, the government has only presented the assumptions of the draft, not the full text. It is not yet clear what exemption thresholds will apply, what minimum amounts will be taxable, and whether the increase will affect all types of games and prizes, or whether certain categories will be excluded.

A reckless gamble

Representatives of Poland’s gambling industry have expressed strong opposition to the proposed change, as consumers have always viewed a tax on winnings negatively. A further tax burden on the players side, will simply strengthen the appeal of grey/black market operators operating outside enforcement.

For licences and operators history repeats as the Polish government gives another “free hand to bad actors”.

If Poland implements the new rules in their current form, it may turn out that, paradoxically, the state treasury will lose more than it gains.

In theory, gambling taxes are meant to strike a delicate balance — punishing vice without rewarding illegality. In reality, they tend to do neither. Poland’s plan to raise its take from 10% to 15% may look like a tidy revenue measure, but in the world of gambling policy, it is a bet with very long odds.
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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.