PartyPoker Snail-Crawls into Czech Republic

After nearly two years, PartyPoker finally receives an online poker license to accept players from the Czech Republic.

PartyPoker is spreading its wings this month. Over the weekend, the company became the proud owner of an online poker license from the Czech Republic. Making the event all the more exceptional is the fact that Czech poker players have been waiting nearly two years to hear the news.

The popular online poker room was once a staple of the Czech iGaming market. For years, players had access to the site, making deposits and withdrawals, competing on the virtual felt, and taking advantage of the operator’s voluptuous tournament schedule.

Due to local regulatory amendments, that relationship came to an abrupt halt in early 2017. The real question now is whether former members will remain loyal after all this time.

PartyPoker Receives Czech Online Poker License

One of the top five largest online poker sites in the world, PartyPoker’s departure from Czech Republic last February took a toll on the country’s players. Although they were surely aware of the new online gambling laws that require operators to have a local license, their sudden rejection,  via email notification, was nonetheless hard to swallow.

The silver lining to that dark cloud was the operator’s assurance that they’d already applied for a license, and that once received, they would be able to reopen their doors to players. After four long months, another email was sent out. Instead of the welcome-back message so many had hoped for, they were instead informed that PartyPoker had withdrawn its application.

Specific details were not provided, except to state that it was due to issues surrounding the country’s new regulatory framework. Sixteen long months passed in silence, until now…

According to an update to the whitelist of licensed online gambling operations maintained by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Finance, PartyPoker was awarded a license on November 10, 2018. No word yet on when the brand intends to launch the new .cz poker site.

Why So Long? Taxation Leads to Market Collapse

After years of debate and legislative maneuvers, the Czech Republic’s new online gambling regulations went into effect on January 1, 2017. The updated laws opened the doors for international operators to obtain a local license that would allow them to legally accept Czech players. At the same time, acceptance without a license became an expressly punishable offense.

From a distance, it’s a perfectly reasonable framework that closely mirrors the undeniably successful stance of the United Kingdom. Up close, however, taxation was far more demanding; some might say debilitating.

The Ministry of Finance imposes a baseline corporate tax of 19% on all locally licensed operators. That alone is higher than the UK’s online gambling tax. But there’s more. On top of this, online poker revenue (calculated as deposits minus withdrawals) is taxed at an additional 35%.

The expense of operating in Czech Republic has been an effective deterrent for most operators. No small-time businesses will touch the market for lack of profitability. Only a few major operators have taken the plunge.

PokerStars was the first, of course, flaunting its license in February of 2017. Since then, that site has gone virtually unchallenged by international poker websites. Now that there’s finally some worthy competition, I have no doubt that PartyPoker—a longtime favorite of Canadian poker players like myself—will have any trouble reclaiming its former player base.