Polish Lottery Monopoly Operator Launches Online Casino Tender

Poland’s lottery monopoly has issued a tender for firms interested in assisting the launch and operation of its new online casino monopoly business.

Lottery and betting operator Totalizator Sportowy recently announced it was seeking help in launching its ‘eKasyno’ online casino, bingo and poker monopoly, which the state-owned operator was granted after legislators approved the amended Polish Gambling Act last December.

Gambling technology suppliers interested in becoming Totalizator Sportowy’s online casino partner are required to submit their bids no later than noon local time on September 26. Those handling the tender will begin examining the bids 15 minutes following this deadline.

Each bid must be accompanied by a deposit of PLN 1m (US $282k). Interested bidders need to be able to demonstrate experience with providing similar online services for at least three companies in the past five years. Bidders will also have to guarantee the site will generate annual turnover of at least €5m.

Poland’s new online licensing regime has yet to attract much interest from international firms, due in part to their inability to offer the type of products that Totalizator Sportowy will be permitted to flog. There’s also the 12% tax on sports betting turnover that online operators insist makes the prospect of a Polish betting license unviable.

Meanwhile, Poland’s blacklist of unauthorized online gambling operators continues to swell. The government gave local internet service providers until July 1 to begin blocking the domains of any gambling site not holding a Polish license, and the list boasted the names of 967 blackguards as of August 31, nearly four times as many domains that the list contained at the end of May.

Some of the more recognizable names added to Poland’s blacklist since the July 1 deadline include Lottoland, JackpotCity, Betclic, Betsafe, Marathonbet, 1xbet, Planetwin365 and PokerStars.