The History of Gambling in Poland
Like many other industries, the gambling sphere is continually developing. And as with any other thing, gambling in Poland has its starting point from where it began its existence. If you start your search with the casino Poland online request, the results will show the current offers in the online casino market, and some of them will show how everything started. There is something to tell in this story. So, let's see how the gambling market developed throughout the XX and XXI centuries.
Some historical data
The first gambling establishment in Poland opened in Sopot, a city on the shores of the Baltic Sea. It was in the far 1920. A year after the official launch of the casino, the company Zoppoter Kasino GmbH was established. Their controlling stake belonged to the community of Sopot city. The number of casino games was not extensive. Visitors to the gambling house could spend their leisure time playing baccarat and roulette. Persons under the age of 21 were not allowed to play casino games. What is more, they were not allowed to enter the gambling club facility.
The casino as the elite's privilege
From the very beginning, the casino providers understood that it was possible to receive significant bonuses from wealthy clients because they were interested in the game and were ready to spend their money. As a result, it was in the first Polish casino that there was a focus on VIP clients. At that time, these were separate rooms reserved for privileged and honoured guests. Since the casino was in demand and brought considerable profit, it was decided to build a hotel where visitors could spend the night. Thus, the first hotel was built in 1927.
During the Second World War, the casino, along with the hotel complex, was destroyed by the Red Army. But such events did not eradicate the gambling tradition. Many casino events were held in the shadow and in secret places, where only privileged categories of the population could receive an invitation. The Soviet restrictions on gambling activities made a significant impact on the underestimation of the casino industry. However, already in 1989, a gambling club opened again on the same territory when the disastrous influence of the Soviets started to be weaker. The well-known and popular today's Polish company Casinos Poland LLC became the operator of the gambling facility. In 1992, the government of Poland started to develop new regulations, and the casino industry started to stay on the law rails. At that time, the central regulation was the age restrictions, and only cities whose population was more than a quarter of million citizens could open the casino. However, since then, the law regulations have been replenished with new ones. The new implementations were and are needed because the casino industry in Poland is highly dependent on the development of media and information technologies.
Working gambling facilities in Poland
After the casino industry started to be legalized, it started to be more difficult to operate the gambling facility. According to the authoritative portal World Casino Directory, the number of land-based licensed casinos in Poland has not changed since 2018. Today there are only nine of them, and gambling establishments are located in such regions:
- Marriott Hotel & Casino Warsaw (Warsaw);
- Casinos Poland in the IBB Andersia Hotel Poznan (Poznan);
- The Hotel Plock & Casino (Plock);
- Casinos Poland in Hotel Park Plaza (Wrocław);
- Hotel Grand Sopot (Sopot);
- Neptune Orbis Hotel and Casino (Szczecin);
- Casino Poland (Gdynia);
- Hotel Dwor Kosciuszko (Krakow);
- Hilton Hotel (Warsaw)
All these facilities, along with the online casino operators, comprise a well-developed Polish gambling market where online and land-based casinos are well-known not only in Poland but in other European countries as well.
