POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Marek Plota and Anna Klaja-Gogolewska, RM Legal
Licensed operators must maintain detailed records of all gambling transactions and player activity, ensuring that each player has access to a transparent account history, including deposits, wagers, winnings and losses. Both physical venues and online platforms must clearly display responsible gambling information, warnings about the risks of gambling, age restrictions and contact details for organisations providing pro- fessional assistance with gambling-related problems. Unlike in many other European jurisdictions, Polish gambling law does not impose statutory limits on stake or deposit amounts, nor does it restrict in-play (live) betting, apart from the temporary limitations applicable to unverified Temporary Accounts. The regulatory approach thus focuses on operator-driven responsibility and player self-regulation, rather than fixed statutory constraints. 8. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) 8.1 AML Legislation The primary legal instrument governing AML/CFT obli- gations in Poland is the Act of 1 March 2018 on Coun- teracting Money Laundering and the Financing of Ter- rorism ( Ustawa o przeciwdziałaniu praniu pieniędzy oraz finansowaniu terroryzmu ). This Act implements EU directives and establishes national mechanisms for AML/CFT supervision. Under Article 2 (1)(20), entities conducting activities in the field of games of chance, mutual betting, card games and machine games are expressly classi- fied as obliged institutions. The General Inspector of Financial Information ( Generalny Inspektor Informacji Finansowej ) is designated as the central authority responsible for counteracting money laundering and terrorist financing (Articles 10–12), while overall AML policy co-ordination rests with the minister competent for public finance matters ( minister właściwy do spraw finansów publicznych ). The Act also provides for a dual-level risk assessment system: the National Risk Assessment, prepared by the General Inspector in co-operation with competent authorities and obliged entities, taking into account EU-level analyses (Article 25), and the Institutional
Risk Assessment, conducted by each obliged entity, including gambling operators, covering factors such as customer profiles, geography, products, services and transaction channels (Article 27). 8.2 AML Requirements Under the Polish AML framework, obliged institutions, including gambling operators, are required to imple- ment a comprehensive set of measures designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. They must conduct both institutional risk assessments and ongoing reviews of their exposure to AML/CFT risks. Operators are obliged to apply financial security meas- ures, which include the identification and verification of customers and beneficial owners, the assessment of business relationships and the continuous monitor- ing of transactions. These measures must in particular be applied when accepting stakes or paying out win- nings of EUR2,000 or more, whether as a single or related transaction. Each obliged institution is required to establish and maintain internal AML policies and procedures proportionate to the nature and scale of its business, appoint a person responsible for AML com- pliance, and ensure regular staff training. Institutions must also keep records of customer due diligence and transactions for at least five years following the end of the business relationship or the execution of a trans- action, and co-operate with competent authorities when requested. Breaches of AML duties may result in administrative fines, other corrective measures or criminal liability of management. In practice, this system obliges gambling operators to adopt a risk-based approach that integrates due diligence, transaction monitoring, internal controls and reporting procedures into their daily operations to ensure the effective prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
9. Advertising 9.1 Regulatory/Supervisory Agency
Under the Polish Gambling Act, the minister compe- tent for public finance matters serves as the primary regulatory and supervisory authority responsible for overseeing compliance with gambling legislation,
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