Legally convicted man for match-fixing VIP client at STS. Big scandal on the Polish betting market

In recent days, there has been a lot of confusion on the Polish market. Sports journalists have revealed the so-called “Stasiak’s scandal.” With the development of events, it turned out that Mirosław Stasiak, who is convicted by a final judgment for fixing football matches, was for many years a VIP client of STS, which was recently sold to gambling hegemon, Entain Group.

What is Stasiak’s scandal?

Mirosław Stasiak is a former football activist convicted of corruption. Stasiak is also disqualified by the Polish Football Association (PZPN). In 2011, Stasiak was convicted of 43 acts relating to match-fixing or making such attempts.

He received a sentence of three years’ imprisonment, suspended for four years. He also had to pay a fine of PLN 195,000. He was also disqualified by the Polish Football Association, first for life, and then for 10 years Meanwhile, as Szymon Jadczak of Sportowe Fakty Website reported in recent days, Stasiak traveled to the match against Moldova with an official PZPN delegation, including Robert Lewandowski and other national team players.

The scandal was already big, but PZPN itself added fuel to the fire, which in a special statement stated that Stasiak was flying this plane because he was invited by one of the team’s sponsors. At that time, Rafał Brzoska, CEO of InPost (the largest private sponsor of the Polish national team), said via his social media that he demanded PZPN to provide information which sponsor actually invited him. Brzoska was followed by other companies, including STS, which issued one of the strongest statements.

From the perspective of time and the incoming new facts, this is surprising, because as it turned out later Mirosław Stasiak has been a VIP client of STS for many years. Thanks to this, he received invitations to VIP seats for the Polish national team matches.

Of course, this fact greatly upset the public, as people began to ask questions, how is a man convicted of fixing matches a VIP client of the largest betting company in the country? The case itself also hit the credibility of the entire bookmaking industry.

How does STS explain Stasiak’s invitation?

– Mateusz Juroszek, STS CEO, stated that Stasiak as a client of his company had to receive such a VIP invitation due to the stakes for which he plays, as a result of a competition or promotional campaign. He was one of dozens of people invited to the match, as STS was to have as many as three of its boxes at the Silesian Stadium. He also highlighted that the company sends thousands of such invitations per year – to the team or league matches – said Tomasz Włodarczyk, a journalist of Meczyki website.

Invitation for Mirosław Stasiak from STS to the match of the Polish national team with Sweden in 2022

After a few hours, STS published another statement:

We confirm that M. Stasiak was twice invited to the national team matches – the last time one and a half years ago. It should be remembered that the two situations are very different. In the case of the game in Moldova, Mr. Stasiak accompanied the official delegation of the national team, the training staff, and the activists, and moved around the stadium with accreditation. In the event of an invitation by our company, he took part in an intimate event exclusively for a small group of clients, consisting in watching the event from the stands together. He was selected by a former employee who was account manager, who not only did not recognize him, but also did not know that the person he invited was convicted of corruption several years ago. Although the last of these matches took place a dozen or so months ago, and we have not had any active correspondence with the client since 2022, this situation should not have taken place. We will learn from it so that it does not happen again.

Mr. Stasiak has been subject to all mandatory verification procedures. However, we cannot provide detailed information about client activity. Regardless of the ethical judgment of the client’s behavior a dozen years ago, which STS strongly opposes, there is no legal basis for restricting Mr. M. Stasiak from participating in betting.

At the same time, in compensation, we will donate the entire amount of 1st, 2nd and 3rd category tickets we hold for the next Polish national team match to Sport Twoją Szansą Foundation and the charitable organizations we have worked with in recent years.

We sustain the content of Friday’s statement in connection with the presence of Mr. Stasiak in the delegation to the Moldova-Poland match. In our opinion, collectively blaming sponsors for a mistake they did not make is not acceptable.

We ask Entain about the so-called Stasiak’s scandal

Unfortunately, the statement does not reveal much, so we sent a number of questions to STS, but we received the answer that the only comment on the matter will be the above statement. Thus, we addressed the following questions to the Entain Group, which is in the process of acquiring the Polish bookmaker:

1. Did the Entain Group know about Mirosław Stasiak’s famous scandal?
2. Will Mirosław Stasiak still be STS’ client?
3. In Entain’s opinion, is it moral for bookmaking companies’ customers to be those who have been convicted by final judgment of match-fixing?
4. Does Entain intend to intervene in any way in this matter?

When we receive answers, we will inform you immediately.