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Poland Gambling Monopoly Chooses Playtech

Online casino software provider Playtech has won the exclusive contract to power Poland’s monopoly provider for online gambling. State-owned lottery provider Totalizator Sportowy chose Playtech after a public tender process to run its upcoming online gambling platform.

Playtech has been involved in online gambling since 1999 and its titles can be found at hundreds of online casinos. The company has produced hundreds of slots and table games, runs an online poker network and was the first software provider to release live dealer casino games.

Playtech CEO Mor Weizer said this in the official announcement:

“Totalizator Sportowy has been supplying lottery and gambling products for more than 60 years and is the largest operator in Poland. We are thrilled to have been selected as its new online casino partner and I’m delighted to be able to announce this agreement today.

“Given the scale and flexibility of our gaming platform Playtech is the partner of choice for leading land-based operators that are best placed to lead the online growth of newly regulating online markets.”

Background on Polish Gambling Expansion

Online gambling has not always been legal in Poland. Prior to 2009, Polish gambling laws did not even mention online gaming. A new gambling law passed in 2009 banned all forms of online gambling except sports betting. The government even threatened to fine players caught visiting unauthorized poker and casino sites.

Further updates to the law in subsequent years eventually opened the sports betting market to private competition and legalized online gambling and poker. There were hopes for a while that private operators would also be able to apply for licenses to offer additional forms of gaming, but those hopes were dashed when the government announced Totalizator Sportowy would be granted a monopoly over online casino games and poker.

Totalizator Sportowy was expected to have its online casino up and running by now, but the government announced back in December that things were running behind schedule. In the December announcement, Totalizator Sportowy said it would not have its online gambling platform ready to go live until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2018.

The delay was not particularly surprising given the lottery’s lack of experience in running an online casino. Totalizator Sportowy was assigned a lucrative but complex responsibility as the only legal provider of online casino games in Poland. Lacking the technical know-how, Totalizator Sportowy had little choice but to find an experience partner to tackle online gaming.

There is a good chance things will begin moving along at a faster clip now that Playtech is involved. Playtech has extensive experience in building, managing and marketing online gambling platforms. This deal with Totalizator Sportowy is exactly the type of job Playtech’s entire business model is designed to take on.

Playtech is best known for designing individual casino games, but the company does much more than that. They actually build out entire platforms for operators. Their abilities include dealing with fundamental hosting and network issues, marketing, dealing with payment providers, providing customer support, fraud prevention and, of course, presenting players with a functional gaming experience.