A liberalized Greek online gambling market

Early this year the Greek government unveiled plans for a liberalized online gambling market with draft legislation that would overturn current restrictions.

Under the proposed laws, 15 – 55 licenses would be awarded to successful applicants, who could then offer online sports betting, casino or poker services to Greek players, served from hardware located within Greece.

Authorities estimated that the license and tax revenue in the first year alone would raise up to €700 million – a pretty attractive proposition for a country that was recently bailed out financially by the EU and IMF.

The draft bill was tabled in the  Hellenic Parliament last month and received its first major setback this week when members of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement party complained that the bill would turn Greece into ‘one vast casino’.

“We should not go towards full deregulation of gaming and gambling,” Dimitris Papoutsis, one of the objecting MPs told Reuters.

In the face of the objections to the legislation in its current form, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou has decided to retract it from further consideration.

So it’s back to the drawing board.

 

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