AnalysisGREECE In September last


year the government began its legislative


initiative ‘Regulating the Gaming Market’ which was brought to an online public consultation which


saw 1,513 comments in just two weeks.


Then in January this year the Greek


Minister of Finance Giorgos


Papakonstantinou unveiled the new


Greek gambling bill which suggested several changes


from fully privatising the remaining


casinos, introducing a VLT market and


opening the market to providers of sports betting,


internet poker and online casinos. The bill is part of a privatisation


programme which aims to raise €7bn


through the sales of its state owned


companies. This will leave the


government with


shareholding ranging from minority


stakes of less than 34 per cent to


controlling stakes of 51 per cent or more.


In some cases it with divest fully from its holding.


GREEK CASINO DATA 2010 CASINO


Club Hotel Loutraki Regency Thessaloniki Regency Mont Parnes Casino Rio


Casino Rodos Xanthi


Porto Karras Casino Syros Casino Corfu TOTAL


No. OF TABLES 97 77 66 40 34 24 35 26 15


414


In 2002 the whole thing erupted in a political scandal and the government’s knee jerk reaction to the public outcry was to introduce the 3037/2002 bill in July 2002 which saw all electronic games banned even those running on home computers.


JVH Hellas, which imported Photo Play consoles at the time, withdrew 7,000 machines from this market and estimated its losses at €2.9m. The company said at the time that some 1.5 million photo play players were affected by the decision back in 2002.


Although the industry understood the need to wipe out illegal gambling, the problem was the law was drafted in such a hurry that is wasn’t able to differentiate between a gaming machine and games played on a computer at home. It was also put into place without the desired three months notice that the European Commission requires for draft laws.


Basically the Greek industry crashed and died overnight, companies closed down and thousands were made unemployed. The European Commission was dragged into the battle and for years the whole saga has been a campaign to have the bill amended.


In 2006 Greece was convicted for its failure to fulfil its obligation under EC rulings but it still refused to take action and thereafter the European Commission ordered the Greek Republic to pay a penalty of €31,798 for each day of delay in “implementing the measures necessary to ensure full compliance with the judgement.”


Now things look set to change. The ban G3 I MAY 2011 I PAGE 57


No. OF SLOTS 1,050 929 969 311 310 178 433 180 50


4,410 GGR


€162.8m €121m €153.5 €24.2m €27.5m €8m


€8.4m €4.9m €3.1m €513.4m


combined with a complete lack of regulation has led to the emergence of a vast illegal market. In addition, and perhaps of a higher priority, is that the government now needs urgent revenues to save it from falling deeper into economic crisis.


In September last year the government began its legislative initiative ‘Regulating the Gaming Market’ which was brought to an online public consultation which saw 1,513 comments in just two weeks. Then in January this year the Greek Minister of Finance Giorgos Papakonstantinou unveiled the new Greek gambling bill which suggested several changes from fully privatising the remaining casinos, introducing a VLT market and opening the market to providers of sports betting, internet poker and online casinos. The bill is part of a privatisation programme which aims to raise €7bn through the sales of its state owned companies. This will leave the government with shareholding ranging from minority stakes of less than 34 per cent to controlling stakes of 51 per cent or more. In some cases it with divest fully from its holding.


Those under the privatisation plans include Athens Airport, state defence contractor EAS, gas operators DEPA and DESFA, state railway operator OSE and Hellenic Post. Greece’s remaining part government owned casinos will be fully privatised.


Meanwhile OPAP (Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics) is a monopoly of which the state owns a 34.4 per cent stake and it has exclusive rights to sports betting and lottery. There has been talk of privatising OPAP for some time and the


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