Illegal gambling growing in Poland

Over 90 percent of the Polish gambling industry is made up of illegal businesses.

Following the tightening of rules in the industry, such grey economy has grown exponentially, writes daily Rzeczpospolita, quoting data by the Supreme Audit Office (NIK).

The internet is booming with illegal gambling, and the number of foreign companies offering it increased from 86 in 2012, to 156 in 2014.

Customs officers who supervise gambling in Poland, say that they cannot put an end to it, the NIK report said.

“These illegal internet bookmakers have conquered 91 percent of the market. Their turnover is estimated at PLN 5 billion zloty (EUR 1.2 billion) per year,” Paweł Rabantek, spokesperson of the Association of Polish bookmakers, said.

He added that these companies do not pay taxes and the Polish coffers are losing out hundreds of millions of zloty because of this.