Poland Approves Up to 5 Years in Prison for Casino Streams and “Trash Content”

The Polish parliament has approved a bill that criminalizes “trash streams” and adds gambling promotion to the list of banned content alongside violence and cruelty. For high-risk operators and PSPs, the practical point is simple: affiliate marketing and streamer-led acquisition in Poland just became a criminal liability issue, not just a compliance headache.

1. The law sets a prison term of 3 months to 5 years. It covers both real live broadcasts and staged imitations of illegal acts, so the scope is not limited to obvious “live crime” content.
2. Promotion of gambling is specifically included in the banned content category. In other words, casino streams are being treated alongside violent and cruel content, which is a pretty clear signal that Poland is moving from platform moderation to criminal enforcement.
3. The bill has passed parliament and is now awaiting the president’s signature. The source notes this comes despite a recent veto on a crypto law, so the political path is not entirely predictable, but the legislative step itself is already done.
4. For the industry, this means stricter affiliate risk in Poland. Operators working the market may have to deal with fewer local ambassadors, while streaming platforms may face pressure to add preventive moderation or geo-block Polish traffic.

The mechanism matters here: Poland is shifting from administrative fines to criminal responsibility for influencers who push gambling content. For PSPs, acquirers, and partner banks, that changes the question from “is this campaign compliant?” to “do we want our rails anywhere near this traffic?”