Ban of Cash Poker in Poland and its alternatives

Recently a gambling regulator in Poland has put a ban on all of the poker games that involve playing for cash. You may still be able to participate in the tournaments, even if buy-in costs you money, however there is no way you can play a cash game. Next to this, the same authority has put a VAT tax that suppose to be paid upon the collection of your winnings. This makes everyone who finished In The Money to pay 23% of value added tax when cashing out his prize. Hence, we can say that poker gaming in Poland has received a wound. What alternatives are available for Poles? Let’s find out below.

Bitcoin poker

Even though it is purely online option, it comes with an enhanced security and rock-solid privacy. Hence, one should not be worried about being tracked when playing poker with bitcoins or engaging in any sort of bitcoin gambling. It is still possible to participate in online cash games as long as those do not involve fiat currencies. Hence, this makes bitcoin poker a great alternative. In addition to this, bitcoin payments are quite hard to be identified by the tax authorities, hence one may restrain from paying taxes on poker winnings.

Regular online poker

According to our sources it is still legal to play cash games on the territory of Poland, as long as these games take place online. However, when wire transfers or credit cards are used as a depositing or withdrawing methods, a player may be a subject to an value added tax. Next to this, it is rather unpredictable to forecast the future actions of the Polish gambling regulator, it may certainly occur that the online poker rooms will be fully banned anytime soon. This provides another reason for choosing bitcoin gambling over traditional online poker.