Totalizator Sportowy, the Polish Bank Association (Związek Banków Polskich), and other financial institutions are stepping up cooperation against illegal gambling operators. At a debate on the partnership, participants framed the grey market as more than a gaming industry issue, describing it as part of a wider ecosystem of cybercrime, money laundering, and financial fraud, which makes countering it increasingly resemble work in anti-money laundering, cybersecurity, and payment protection. The discussion opened with preliminary findings presented by Prof. Michał Bernardelli from an SGH study on the economic impact of the Totalizator Sportowy Capital Group. The analysis indicates the group accounts for most of the gambling sector’s contributions to the state budget while generating multi-billion added value and thousands of jobs.
Mariusz Kaczmarek, managing director of the Technology Division at Totalizator Sportowy, said the past eight years have brought significant progress in limiting the grey market. He said Totalizator Sportowy controls 70 to 80 percent of the online casino market, while the grey market still accounts for 20 to 30 percent of the segment. He argued that further reductions require shifting emphasis from blocking internet domains to controlling financial flows. Paweł Szulik of the Polish Bank Association noted that changing a domain is practically costless for criminals and said the future belongs to entity-based registers covering owners, beneficial owners, and related business structures, solutions already in use in Norway and Slovakia. Kaczmarek added that up to 30 days can pass between reporting a domain and its blocking, while ten new pages can appear within an hour of one being blocked.
Kaczmarek noted that Totalizator Sportowy is an obligated institution under AML rules, just like banks. He said it is subject to the same rigorous AML and KYC procedures, making cooperation and advanced supporting technologies a natural step. Wojciech Pantkowski, vice president of Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa, the national clearing house, said the spread of instant payments sharply reduces the time available for risk analysis, leaving a maximum of 10 seconds to verify the sender, the recipient, and the beneficial owner. Pantkowski pointed to automation and machine learning, while Totalizator Sportowy pointed to behavioral analysis as a way to detect anomalies, such as a user making dozens or hundreds of transactions in one direction late at night. Pantkowski reported that Polish anti-fraud solutions were presented as a model at recent meetings of European clearing houses, and described Poland as the EU leader and a reference point for others.
The debate also addressed player protection. Kaczmarek said Totalizator Sportowy’s legal platform automatically limits how quickly users can raise their spending limits and, in some situations, triggers additional procedures to contact the customer. The debate also highlighted a signed letter of intent with Biuro Informacji Kredytowej, the credit information bureau, to jointly assess whether players can realistically afford their level of play.