Poland, one and a half billion dollars-worth sports betting market
Poland, featuring a population of 37 million people amongst which there is an enormous passion for sports betting, with football being one of the most popular types of sports, is garnering a lot of attention. This is highlighted by the industry’s statistics published by the Polish Ministry of Finance. However, to fully showcase the potential of the Poland sports betting market we must first go over some numbers.
During 2019, the regulated betting market in Poland had generated a combined turnover of €1.50 billion. This represents a 29% yearly increase in combined turnover from the previous year, indicating a strong market growth.
To further highlight the market’s potential it is important to mention that the grey market accounted for 60% of the Polish market, according to legal specialists’ assessment. Had all of this turnover been taxed, the Polish government would have earned an additional PLN1.1 billion in taxes. This would have resulted in the Poland sports betting market being worth over €3.5 billion in combined turnover.
A recent study published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health has shown that 4.1% out of 2000 Polish people who participated in its survey made an online bet in the last 12 months with lotteries, sports and esports betting being their favorite online gambling verticals.
It is not just the huge gaming potential that makes Poland stand out in Eastern Europe, but also its very advanced infrastructure and stable digital growth indicators.
To further elaborate on this manner, in 2020 the mobile connectivity amounted to 51.84 million connections, which translated into a penetration of 137%. The same goes for their internet usage. In 2020 there were 30.63 million internet users, indicating an internet penetration of 81% which is more than the median registered for the Eastern European Region. This strong connectivity also had a ripple effect in terms of Social Media users, which has increased by 1.4 million (+7.8%) during 2019 and in 2020 amounted for 19.00 million, with Facebook along with the Messenger services being the most popular platforms in Poland.
On average Poles spend 6 hours and 26 minutes daily using the internet, which is more than some Western European countries such as Italy and France where people spend 6 hours and 5 hours 8 minutes respectively.
All of this opens up a ton of opportunities for one already globally popular vertical, E-sports. If one takes into account that 8.8% of the Polish internet users have watched an e-sports tournament during 2020 according to the statistics, it is safe to say e-sports is a popular vertical and has quite a fan base in Poland.
Interested to learn more about Poland market?
Check out our “Poland Betting Focus” industry report.