Intralot’s Polish bookmaking business Totolotek is the first bookmaker to launch virtual sports betting games in Poland in a partnership with Betradar.
The company is responding to new amendments to Poland’s gambling legislation that went into effect April 1. The amendments allow virtual sports betting and also online bingo, poker and casino games.
Totolotek has gone live with versions of Betradar’s virtual football, horse and dog racing games. The bookmaker plans to expand thee offerings to include games played by national teams and virtual basketball and tennis, it said in a press release.
“Betting on virtual sports events is increasingly popular in other countries, and has been available for many years. In Poland, betting on such events was made possible by the provisions of the amended Gambling Law, effective since April,” said Adam Lamentowicz , Totolotek chief executive. “We believe that this kind of gaming will be of great interest to our customers. It is fast and much more accessible than betting on real games. We have put a lot of work into making the simulations as realistic and elaborate as possible, and placed a lot of data inside so as to enable players to analyze possible results.”
The games are currently available at Totolotek’s retail outlets in Poland and plans call for the games to be launched online at Totolotek.pl.
In a related matter, the new amendments continue to impact online play in the country. The iPoker network has reportedly shut down operations in the market, following the withdrawal of sites like William Hill and bet365 in March.
Poland now taxes 12 percent of online gambling site’s annual turnover as opposed to the more common practice of taxing only gross gambling revenue. The country has also warned that it will begin blocking unlicensed sites in July.
