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Update GREECE GAMING MARKET


gross profits of each operator and given to the State on a quarterly basis. There is also a 10 per cent tax on player gains to be imposed on both VLTs and internet betting.


• The Gambling Control Commission will regulate and control the sector. Each system would be monitored and connected to a central monitoring system. The regulator would cooperate with the ISPs to block unauthorised sites and will set up live monitoring systems.


Some of the initial proposals are now absent from the final legislation including the six month blackout period prior to legalisation and regulation designed to protect state owned monopoly OPAP. The


oPerators in the greek


online gaMing Market would Be required to have a


PerManent Base in greece.


clause which limited the number of licenses has also been scrapped.


Instead of the black out period for private operators applying for licenses EU licensed operators will be allowed to operate freely in Greece. The operators will be allowed to advertise across all online and offline media, including television. Another favourable change is that the private online gambling operators will be able to target Greek customers from offshore servers during the six month transitional period. But once licenses have been granted the licensees may then be required to locate servers within Greece.


OPAP (34 per cent owned by the government of which 29 per cent has now been placed with a governmental privatisation fund) will now have the exclusive license to operate all the 35,000 VLTs to be set up as part of the gaming liberalisation plan. OPAP will directly operate 16,500 machines and sub contract the rest to other operators or concessionaires as they will be called.


OPAP has already paid €12,000 per machine in advance of the 35,000 machines to be placed with an additional €4,000 to be paid per machine by the end of 2012. This amounts to a total of €560m providing the government with its much


delivering the Dynamic bonusing at the point-of-play floor-wide experience


needed cash injection. However it’s not all as simple as it seems.


An industry source said: “OPAP is facing serious resistance from their network which is well organised and not under OPAP’s control. The network has declined to operate gaming halls of up to 25 machines each so the 16,500 machines have to placed in the 5,500 OPAP shops whereby only an estimated 1,000 shops are considered to be proper gaming machine locations.


“Meanwhile additional challenges remain in the area of the interested concessionaires, the suppliers involved and the money that needs to be invested by all parties to get the 35,000 machines operational considering the potential of the default and return of the Drachma plus the fact that the banks are in no position to lend the large amounts needed.”


Despite the rush to get the law into place the OPAP licenses will not become effective until one year after issue so it is thought VLTs will not enter the market until at least the end of 2012. OPAP was also set to be privatised by the beginning of 2012 and this too may be delayed and so the State will extend the firm’s monopoly by 10 years taking it to 2030.


It is thought OPAP will now have to spend as much as €925m for the concession renewal and the VLTs of which over €400m has already been paid.


Meanwhile the timeline for the remote gambling licenses is also unclear and the Greek government has not yet issued any information.


for and against OSIPE believe this new law to be incompatible with the European law and has now complained to the European Commission as they believe this new law will bring the same problems the old law did. The European Gaming and Betting Association and the Remote Gambling Association have both filed a complaint with the European Commission about Greece’s recently adopted online gambling law. This has now passed the Commission’s internal assessment and the issue will now be raised with the Greek government.


Operators in the Greek online gaming market would be required to have a permanent base in Greece plus be limited to financial transactions through Greek banks and must also impose a higher age limit restriction online than at terrestrial casinos.


Your


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