Kindred facing $6.3 million fine in Poland

[The Buzz]

Kindred Group's Unibet band has allegedly been targeted customers in Poland and because of that, the company now risks a fine of up to $6.3 million.

Well known sportsbook operator STS Gaming Group has charged Unibet with illegally conducting business via operational and marketing activities without a nationally approved licence. Allegations against Unibet include "many years of illegal activity," such as providing games without Ministry of Finance permissions and unauthorised advertising and promotion, as well as marketing on the shirts of overseas football clubs during matches taking place in Poland.

You may remember earlier this year, the Norwegian Gambling Authority warned Trannel International Limited, a subsidiary of Kindred Group behind the sites Unibet, Mariacasino, Storspiller and Bingo, that it would receive a fine of up to NOK437m (£36.2m) if it failed to leave the market.

From Interplay:

Kindred's activities have been a source of controversy for a long time. The group notoriously violates the gambling regulations of many countries, including Poland. In our country, the law is broken by the activities of the Unibet brand, which has been directing its offer for many years and allows Polish players to register.

The operator offers, among others, casino games exclusive to Totalizator Sportowy, while sports betting is not subject to the 12% turnover tax or the 10% tax on winnings over PLN 2,280. Therefore, we are talking about unfair competition, where all legally operating operators in Poland lose out.

In view of Unibet's illegal activities, STS has decided to take legal action against the Kindred Group. The Polish operator indicates that in addition to registering players from our country, Unibet also violates the Polish gambling law through its marketing activities. The operator has repeatedly appeared on the shirts of foreign teams that played their matches in our country.

What's more, the Unibet website is available in Polish, and the domain has changed names many times after they were entered in the Register of Illegal Operators. It only shows that Kindred has violated many provisions of the Gambling Act. In addition, Unibet's activity also puts Polish players at risk, claiming that it has an international license, which, however, as indicated by STS, does not exist.

Read more here: https://interplay.pl/sts-pozywa-kind...zeczenia-sadu/

[dannyx]

STS has been attacking all forms of "illegal" betting for many years as the Gambling Act was introduced. Often ridiculing itself, for example, by advertising itself as a better product than Pinnacle or Bet365.
STS despite being the largest bookmaker in Poland is a junk company.

And in Poland there is a sales tax of 12% on the amount of each bet. That is, you bet €100 and on a good day your stake is reduced to €88.
I once counted how much is the average REAL odds at bookmakers in Poland taking into account tax and generally low odds.
For an ML event with 50/50 odds the odds are 1.53 vs. 1.53 THAT'S AWESOME.

So even though there are probably more than 20 bookmakers already operating in Poland "Legal", with such odds there will always be quite a few players looking for offshore operators. Although why Unibet, having the opportunity at Betonline, Mybook, Jazzsports and many others is beyond my understanding.

[Rinrin]

Just trying to find a Scape Goat i think.

[FreeSpins]

I don't feel sorry for Kindred at all.... for what they are doing with their partners (blatant stealing by reducing commissions to 10% or 0% and then and closing accounts). More info here:

https://www.gpwa.org/forum/kindred-a...hlight=kindred
https://www.gpwa.org/forum/kindred-a...hlight=kindred
https://www.gpwa.org/forum/kindred-c...hlight=kindred


On the other hand, I do not support this type of practice: "to the goal after dead bodies".... It looks bad and speaks ill of STS.... not very professional.