Amendment to the gambling law – what are the changes passed by the Sejm about?

At the latest session, namely on February 26, 2021, the Sejm passed an amendment to the customs law, including changes to the Gambling Act (hereinafter: the “Act”). Works on the Bill have not been completed yet, and on the same day, the Bill was handed over to the President and the Marshal of the Senate. The Senate will examine the Bill at its next session.

The enacted changes are primarily aimed at optimizing and making less formal the procedure for making entries in the Register of Domains Used to Offer Games of Chance at Variance with the Gambling Act, as well as procedures for imposing fines on telecommunications undertakings and payment service providers that fail to comply with the provisions of the Gambling Act. Moreover, the proposed amendment aims at increasing the possibility of handling cases in the field of gambling electronically.

Below, you can find an overview of the most important changes that may be introduced to the Gambling Act.

1. Amendment to Article 6a(6) Organizing a poker game.

Pursuant to the amended provision, an entity organizing a poker tournament based on a granted license for running a casino is obliged to provide the competent authority, in paper or electronic form using electronic communication, with detailed information about people who have gained winnings in the tournament, including their full names, the amount of an entry fee in the tournament and information on the amount if the winnings and the settlement of the gambling tax.

Comment: the change aims to increase the possibility of handling cases in the field of gambling electronically and clarifying what information about people is to be provided to the authorities. The change is of a formal nature.

2. Amendments to Article 15, including repealing Article 15(1a)(2)

Changes to Art. 15 of the Gambling Act are intended to remove barriers to placing legal amusement arcades with slot machines. Pursuant to the regulations still in force, a licensed amusement arcade shall not be established in a place where over the last 5 years, slot machine games have been found organized at variance with the Act. 

The amendment stipulates that this provision is to be repealed, thus increasing the supply of attractive locations for the company exercising the state monopoly.

Comment: This change is of no practical significance for the industry.

3. Amendment to Article 15b(3)

The change is aimed at limiting the storage of audio-visual signal records in arcades with slot machines from 3 years to 12 months. The 3-year period has been retained for casinos.

Comment: This change is of no practical significance for the industry.

4. Amendment to Articles 15f(4), 15f(6) and 15f(9)

This is one of the most important changes introduced by the proposed amendment; its aims at changing the conditions for making entries in the Register of Domains Used to Offer Games of Chance at Variance with the Act (hereinafter: the “Register”) and speeding up the process of submitting an entry of domain names in the Register for approval.

Assuming that the proposed change will enter into force in the unchanged form, it will be possible to enter in the Register not only names of internet domains used to organize games of chance contrary to the provisions of the Act but also names of domains available to Internet users located in the Republic of Poland used to advertise or promote games of chance at variance with laws and regulations.

Therefore, websites used to advertise and promote online casinos and games of chance at variance with Polish laws and regulations, in particular, affiliate websites, will also be entered in the Register.

The new regulations also provide for changes in approving entries in or changes to the Register. Until now, each such change has had to be approved by the minister in charge of public finance or a secretary or undersecretary of state in the office supporting the minister competent for public finance authorized by the minister. Pursuant to the content of the Act passed by the Sejm, entries in or changes to the Register shall be made by the minister in charge of public finance or by a National Revenue Administration body designated by the minister. This solution is to enable the minister in charge of public finance to appoint a competent authority of the National Revenue Administration to approve entries in, changes to or removals from the Register. According to the presented justification for the Bill, the proposed change is to optimize the procedure for making entries in the Register and thus accelerate it. Simultaneously, according to the proposed amendment to Article 15f(9) – the time limit for examining an objection is to be extended up to 14 days.

Comment: If the amendment to the Act is adopted in this form, a decision on entries in, changes to or removals from the Register will be made by a lower-level official appointed within the structure of the National Revenue Administration. The entry procedure will probably be accelerated, which is aimed at, among other things, fighting against the so-called clones of domains already entered in the Register.

Websites used to advertise and promote gambling are to be entered in the Register; however, since the interpretation of the provisions of the Act regulating the permitted advertising and promotion is not always clear and explicit, in this context, problems are likely to arise and errors may occur while deciding on making entries in the Register. Entrepreneurs will still have the right to object and prove that an entry in the Register is groundless.

It should also be noted that according to the new proposed content of Article 15f(4), domains available to Internet users located in the Republic of Poland will be entered in the Register. Pursuant to the regulations currently in force, to enter a domain in the Register, it is necessary to prove that the domain is addressed to service recipients in the Republic of Poland, particularly when the website using domain names is available in Polish and advertised in the Republic of Poland. Following the amendment, if the proposed change remains unchanged, a domain’s “availability” to users located in Poland will be sufficient. Such a change will undoubtedly increase the automaticity in deciding on making entries in the Register.

5. Amendment to Articles 90 and 90a.

The currently applicable regulations of the Act stipulate that financial penalties on:

• a telecommunication undertaking that has failed to comply with the obligations under Article 15f(5) of the Act, namely, in particular, the obligation to prevent gratuitous access to websites using names of Internet domains entered in the Register by removing them from ICT systems, as well as the obligation to redirect, on a gratuitous basis, calls referring to Internet domain names entered in the Register to the website maintained by the minister in charge of public finance; and
• a payment service provider that has failed to comply with the ban referred to in Article 15g of the Act, namely, the ban on providing payment services on websites using names of internet domains entered in the Register;

are imposed by the minister in charge of public finance.

When the amendment enters into force, the body imposing the fine will be the head of the tax and customs office competent for carrying out audit activities.

Comment: in this case, we are also dealing with shifting the burden of examining the case from the central level to a lower level, which, according to the authors of the amendment, is to affect positively the improvement of the mechanisms provided for in the Act. However, the practice will show whether such decentralization will not increase the number of incorrectly issued decisions.

6. Further legislative process.

Work on the amendment act has not been completed yet. Its content was submitted with the Senate, which may introduce amendments to the Bill, in which case the Bill will be returned to the Sejm for consideration, and the Sejm may reject the amendments made by the Senate. The final stage is the signing of the Act by the President.

Ewa Lejman-Widz, Partner, Legal Adviser, Tax Adviser