Killjoy journalist seems set on destroying kids' summer holidays

The summer period has not only attracted thousands of tourists to seaside resorts but also numerous businessmen with illegal gambling machines. Gazeta Wyborcza has conducted an investigation into the so called "games of chance" machines in which zł.2 or zł.5 has to be put in and the player has a chance to draw a fluffy toy out of a box. Such a machine can bring a net profit of as much as zł.1,000 for the owner per month, and can be bought for around zł.6,000. The Finance Ministry confirmed that these are gambling machines and fall under the authority of tax offices. Owners must pay EUR 75 for each machine per month, but none do. There are between 3,000- 5,000 such machines across the country and the failure to pay the monthly fee results in losses of millions of złoty to the Treasury. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 3) A.K.