Last year, the Poles spent more on gambling than on beer, vodka and medical services. If the upward trend continues the gambling market will be worth as much as the mobile telecommunication in 2009. “PB” has got access to unpublished data from the Ministry of Finance. It turns out that in 2007, the Poles spent nearly PLN 12bn for gambling, i.e. 47.5 percent more than in 2006. This year, dynamics exceed 40 percent, which means that the market will grow by PLN 5bn to PLN 17bn. This is more than 40m clients in Las Vegas spend every year.

One-armed bandits are the most popular way of gambling. They are to be found in nearly 18,000 pubs, bars and gasoline stations. There are 35,000 of them and the number keeps growing. Last year, the gamblers spend over PLN 4.9bn in the fruit machines, nearly twice as much as a year earlier. Totalizator Sportowy, the state-owned lottery company, got PLN 2.78bn in 2007, or 20.3 percent more than a year earlier.

(PLN 1 = EUR 0.305)