A new bill was approved in the Polish Parliament recently. The country has been under fire as of late due to a wide range of gambling problems that have arisen. They have involved high-ranking officials in the country and it has done more than a little to embarrass legislators. The whole flub was labeled as “Blackjack-gate” and it will be a long time before officials will be forgiven for the problems that occurred. Once the scandal was dealt with, Prime Minister Tusk started an immediate push for stricter laws when it comes to gaming in the country.

The main repercussion of stricter rulings is that slot machines are going to be stationed only in approved areas. Prior to the new laws, the machines were legal to be set up in bars, service stations, malls and cafes in the country. Now, only licensed casinos will be able to have the machines and legally operate them. To implement the new changes, there may be some problems however. Namely, it may take some time to reverse the former more lax rules about slot machine gambling. It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 slot machines that will have to be removed. This could prove to be a hefty task for legislators to carry out due to the widespread nature of the locations that are having gambling machines in operations. It may take months for all the machines to be removed and that doesn’t mean that there won’t still remain an underground number of machines that are being operated. One thing other countries have learned is that gambling is something that if banned, people will find illegal ways of carrying it out. When a ban happens with gambling, there has to be some police force strictly tasked with regulating the changes and monitoring them over time. Poland can expect more underground gambling to ensue. The new rules also ban online gambling within the state. These changes may be hard to implement, but time will tell what legislators will have to do to ensure the laws are followed. It will take time and money, along with vigilant attention to make sure Poland does not fall into illegal gambling.

The Polish Parliament just approved a new bill that restricts gaming at casinos in the country. The gaming bill’s approval is fast on the heels of a public scandal involving politicians that was referred to at “Blackjack-gate.”  It involved the cabinet members of Prime Minister Tusk. Prior to the scandal, Prime Minister Tusk began pushing aggressively for the approval of strict legislation regarding the gaming industry in Poland. In a vote of 48 to 3, the bill passed.

Part of the reason Tusk pushed the bill so quickly was to save political face after four of his cabinet members were embroiled in the scandal. Politicians were taking kickbacks from various casinos in the country. Tusk is making no moves to close down casinos, but rather to regulate them better. Like most political leaders, Tusk knows how lucrative slot machine gambling can be. He is aware of how many millions of dollars can be brought into the country via a good slots and gambling legislation. That is why this issue has been a priority for the cabinet since the former scandal.

Prior to acceptance of the bill, President Kaczynski needs to offer approval. Prime Minister Tuck is relatively secure that the President will support the new legislation “barring any new changes.”  He is hoping that the President will sign the bill into enactment prior to the end of 2010. In the new legislation slot machines will only be permitted in official casino facilities. That means that they will need to be removed from bars, pubs, cafes, shopping malls and service stations. There are an estimated 50,000 machines currently running in these facilities and they will need to be removed.  In addition, anyone under 18 will not be allowed to gamble and online gambling is no longer allowed at all.

Poland is working hard to change its current laws and to save face. It’s difficult to recover from a scandal, but the country is well on its way to change.  Tusk is hoping the new legislation goes through without incident and helps to monitor and regulate gaming. The strict move to only allow slot machines at casino-facilities is an added move to regulate and watch over any illegal or unscrupulous activities.