If you thought land based Polish casinos are a new thing, we need to tell you that they are not. Although they have not been around for a hundred years, casinos in Poland have been in operation since the 1930s.
The country is a bit relaxed when it comes to gambling. The first land-based casino opened in August 1930 in Sopot City. It was the perfect spot for a casino at that time, and tourists flocked there to play blackjack and roulette tables. Today, we will dig deeper into the rich history of Polish casinos.
The sandy beach of Sopot City was an ideal place to create a tourist attraction. It was the reason the casino operators chose it in 1930 to build the first land-based casino in Poland. At that time, only blackjack tables and roulette games were the main attraction.
Because of this casino, tourism significantly improved in this part of Poland, even if the age requirement for casino goers was 18 years old and above. Because of this, the casino had to redesign its establishment and turn it into a resort hotel.
As time went by, more casinos opened, such as the Zopoter Casino. Many VIPs went to Poland to play. The casinos attracted everyone from the middle class to the ultra-rich.
The Second World War hit Poland hard. The casinos did not just shut down – they were destroyed. As such, tourism deteriorated. The Sopot casino became a hospital for the wounded.
It was after the war in 1946 that the casino became a hotel once again. The owners renamed it Grand Hotel. Later, a company called the Orbis Casino Group bought it. Although the war ended, the USSR annexed Poland, which meant that gambling was not allowed. The USSR imposed a ban on all kinds of gambling – Not even sports betting was allowed.
The thing was that the ban did not mean anything to some people. There were groups in Poland that discovered a loophole in this law. They offered to gamble on their shipping cruises, including blackjack and roulette. They provided a gambling cruise ship that traveled to Scandinavia.
Because of this, the business grew, and Poland saw more tourists again. It was in 1989 when the USSR grew weak, and the ban on gambling in Poland would not last any longer.
In 1998, the casino ban was lifted again. Casinos were now allowed to operate in Poland. One particular casino that was held in high esteem was Pod Roza, located in Krakow. It marked a new era of gambling in the country.
It was in the 1980s when the Polish gambling scene was at its finest. At that time, there were few regulations. In 1992, the Polish government had to create new laws to improve the regulation of gaming facilities. By this point, gambling houses now needed a license. In addition, only casinos with a population of 250,000 people could operate a casino.
It was in 2009 when the Ministry of Finance created stringent rules for online gambling. Here are some to think about:
Those that operate iGaming sites offshore must not offer their services to Polish consumers without explicit approval from the government. Because of these, it is difficult to launch an online gambling site in Poland. However, despite these rules, there are many workarounds. For one, telco companies are not really that strict in banning the IP addresses and domains of online gambling operators.
Because of this, many iGaming platforms are accessible to Polish customers. Customers do not even need to get a VPN service to access these sites. Today, there are over 30 game developers of gambling games in Poland. While these game developers are not exactly casino operators, they run their games from their software and earn money from the bettors.
There is an ongoing trend where these game developers are beginning to accept cryptocurrency. It seems like they are doing this to circumvent some financial laws in the country. Only time will tell if Poland’s government will soon be more accepting of this new trend.
Poland today is home to many land-based casinos and hotel resorts. Over the years, Poland has made adjustments to how it regulates online casinos. Nowadays, there are also legitimate online casinos that operate to support Polish customers. There are strict rules for the operation of online gambling sites in Poland. As such, there are only a few operators. It does not mean that online gambling is banned. It only means that the operators must get a license from the government
