Poland’s state-owned lottery and online casino monopoly Totalizator Sportowy enjoyed record sales in 2018, topping the six billion zloty mark for the first time.
Figures released this week show Totalizator Sportowy’s total sales hitting PLN6.1b (US$1.6b) in 2018, an 8.5% improvement over 2017’s result. The gains pushed Totalizator Sportowy’s total contribution to the state budget to over PLN2b while kickbacks to Polish sport and national cultural programs exceeded PLN1b, the first time these subsidies have topped the billion-zloty threshold.
Totalizator Sportowy CEO Olgierd Cieślik said breaking the “magic barrier” of PLN6b was “just the beginning of good information and a good run.” Cieślik noted that the firm’s Playtech-powered online casino Total Casino only launched in December 2018, and thus 2019’s figures will have some extra wind in their sails/sales. Cieślik previously suggested Total Casino will boost the monopoly’s online operations to around 30% of overall sales within three to four years.
It doesn’t hurt that Total Casino has a friend in the Ministry of Finance, which continues to blacklist internationally licensed gambling sites that lack Polish approval. As of April 4, the country’s online gambling blacklist listed 6,553 unapproved domains, meaning over 300 new domains have been added since March 1.
Among the international names making multiple appearances on the Ministry’s hall of shame in March were Betsafe, Bet-at-home, Evobet, esports betting specialists GGbet and Spin Palace. But the month truly belonged to the Curacao-licensed Casino-x, which accounted for nearly 200 blacklisted domains all on its own.
In other Polish market news, the country’s leading bookmaker STS has begun rolling out new ‘premium’ betting shops, which basically appear to be cleaner than other shops, in addition to offering digital betting terminals. The first premium betting point launched this week in Szczecin, and STS plans to roll out similar shops in other major Polish cities in short order.
STS, which recently announced plans for major international expansion, has also launched new 24-7 online customer support in five languages: Polish, English, German, Ukrainian and Russian. STS controls around 47% of Poland’s betting market, and 80% of its domestic turnover comes via digital channels.
