Taxes collected from Poland’s bookmakers slump 26.6% YoY in Q2
Estimates suggest online and land-based giant STS now controls half the country’s legal sports betting market
Tax revenue published by Poland’s Ministry of Finance shows that bookmakers contributed PLN138.6m (£31.2m) to the Central European country’s Treasury in Q2, a decrease of 26.6% on the PLN188.6m generated in the same period in 2019.
In addition, taxes paid in the first half of 2020 fell 10% year-on-year to PLN343.4m (£77.4m) due largely to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the hit to the sports calendar from mid-March onwards.
The country’s licensed operators had lobbied the government in March to temporarily reduce Poland’s 12% tax on sports betting turnover to 10% during the dearth of sporting action. The plea fell on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, estimates by legal association Graj Legalnie suggest that STS has strengthened its position in Poland’s legal sports betting market to 50%, a rise of 4% from this time last year.
While STS has a retail estate of 440 betting shops, all of which were closed for up to two months during lockdown, around 85% of its income is derived from digital channels.
STS’ nearest rival is Fortuna Entertainment Group on 25%, which Graj Legalnie says was down 7% on last year, while the third-largest operator, ForBet, increased its share by 1% to 7%.
The remainder of the market comprises of LV Bet (3%), Betclic (3%), BetFan (3%), followed by another half-dozen operators accounting for a combined 9% share.
In an interview with EGR Intel last month, STS CEO Mateusz Juroszek spoke of the challenges of operating a bookmaking business in Poland with its “crazy” turnover tax and the threat posed by black-market online firms.