PragueGamingSummit3 - Speaker profiles - Michał Sałajczyk (Associate, Bird & Bird Poland)

Gambling industry media reported that Poland’s licensed online sports betting operators now control nearly half the country’s market, a significantly higher slice from just one year ago.

Data quoted from Poland’s Ministry of Finance indicates that Polish-licensed bookmakers’ land-based and online turnover hit PLN5.1b (US$1.37b) in 2018, a 55% rise over 2017’s PLN3.3b and triple 2016’s PLN1.7b. The Ministry of Finance’s blacklist of internationally licensed online gambling operators serving the needs of Polish punters without Poland’s permission currently stands at around 5,414 domains, and the Ministry is continuously issuing reminders to telecom operators and payment processors of their respective obligations to block blacklisted domains and refuse to process financial transactions for any site whose domain appears on the register. Failure to uphold these obligations exposes telecoms and processors to fines of up to PLN250k ($67k) per infraction. (source: calvinayre.com) At Prague Gaming Summit 2019 (Gioco News is media partner), Michał Sałajczyk (Associate, Bird & Bird Poland) will join the “Focus on the Slovakian market regulation and decrypting Poland’s licensing procedures” panel discussion alongside with Stefan Švec (Sales Director, Playtech), and Dr. Robert Skalina (Senior Advisor, WH Partners), and will share the information he has about Poland's gambling industry. Michał Sałajczyk is an associate in the intellectual property and data protection team at Bird & Bird’s Warsaw office. He is an attorney-at-law (adwokat). He specializes in intellectual property, media and entertainment, advertising, sports and gambling law. He also advises on various IP aspects, in particular, in relation to software licensing contracts and on matters concerning e-commerce and unfair competition. Michał’s clients include individuals and businesses from the creative industries, such as advertising, interactive and media agencies and film production companies. He also has extensive experience in providing comprehensive legal services regarding film and TV production. His practice includes preparing contracts concerning rights to intangible goods and the entertainment sector, as well as preparing terms and conditions for e-commerce services, regulations for contests and promotions, and advising on aspects of their organisation. Michał’s experience includes advice on athletes’ image rights, as well as drafting and negotiating sports sponsorship agreements, including the agreement between a leading Polish football club and its main sponsor – a sports betting company. He completed postgraduate studies in new technology law at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.