Polish President Signs Online Poker Ban

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski signed a bill into law that would ban online poker in Poland. According to a report at Card Player Europe, the law would take effect later this summer.

Interestingly, this law takes the opposite viewpoint of many other online gambling laws in regards to poker and other forms of gambling. This law does not outlaw sports betting; according to reports, the reasoning is that sports betting is based on “real world” activities. Thus, bookmakers can still run sites in Poland provided that their servers are located in the European Union, and the company has a .pl domain name that it uses in the Polish market.

However, poker did not get such favorable treatment.

“Poker is a gambling game, based on a random element,” said Jacek Kapica, the undersecretary to the Ministry of Finance. “World, it’s a game, leading to addiction.”

While the ban could make life difficult for professional and recreational poker players in Poland, there is a chance that the law may not stay in effect for the long haul. Other EU countries are expected to protest the law, which may be in violation of EU competition and trade law.

Other countries in the EU have recently regulated their online poker markets, but have done so in accordance with existing EU law. For instance, both France and Italy have set up regulatory frameworks that allow sites to apply for licensing in those nations, after which they may operating special sites specifically for players in those countries.

Conversely, the Polish poker ban has been called “highly doubtful under EU law” by the European Gaming and Betting Association. The legislation will take effect no earlier than August, after a review process by the European Commission.