Greek Online Gambling Licenses Available Next Month?

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Sep 23, 2016

But with tax rates of around 35 percent will operators be interested?

Reports from Greece indicate that after months or dithering, clashes with the European Commission and manoeuvres designed to enhance the sales value of its share in OPAP the government is finally about to sort out its online gambling licensing debacle.
InfoPowa readers may recall the uproar among operators in 2011 when the Greeks issued 24 online gambling licenses, only to suspend them within a year to protect government's hefty stake in the OPAP gambling group, which had been put up for sale.
It appears from pronouncements by Trifon Alexiadis, the Greek deputy minister of finance, that the government is now squared away in terms of new regulations which will allow the issue of hopefully more permanent licensing this time around, with applications probably opening next (October) month, according to media reports.
The new licensing regime will be supported by tough enforcement activity which has already commenced – there are almost 900 websites listed on a Hellenic Gaming Commission blacklist and ISP-blocked, with doubtless more will follow.
To ensure that licensees pay the full amounts due in taxes from their interaction with Greek online punters, the government has indicated that it plans to impose a strict financial reporting regime on operators.
Whether operators will be enthusiastic about licensing in Greece remains an open question; the local industry certainly has online gambling potential, estimated by some to be in excess of Euro 2 billion a year, but the tax rate of 35 percent is amongst the heaviest in the world and will give many operators pause for thought.

Online Casino News Courtesy of Infopowa

Brian Cullingworth

Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.

We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.

His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.


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