Greece has notified the European Commission of proposed amendments to its gambling law that will restrict online betting and most other online games to land-based monopoly OPAP until 2020.
The draft strikes out Article 46 of Law 4002/2011 providing for the award of multiple licences via an international tender process, reneging on an earlier commitment to license 24 companies which had until recently been paying taxes under a temporary licence scheme.
Further, the new draft inserts a stipulation that until 12 October 2020, online gambling licences will only be granted to operators other than OPAP “for casino-type games of chance, the results of which are not provided by a random number generator as in poker tournaments.” Therefore, until 2020, private operators would only be able to apply for online licences for tournament poker or live dealer casino games, with sports betting and all other games coming under OPAP’s remit.
In addition to preventing any operator other than OPAP from being granted a full online licence, the draft also integrates provisions for the Commission of Supervision and Control of Games (CSCG) to prepare and maintain a blacklist of unlicensed gambling providers, with local ISPs required to block designated keywords “which refer directly or indirectly to conducting gaming.”
Lobby group the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has already submitted a complaint about the EU Member State’s plans to extend OPAP’s land-based monopoly to online gambling products, highlighting their non-compliance with EU law.
CEO Clive Hawkswood said earlier this month that the RGA believed the failure to offer licences for online gambling, as originally planned in 2011, was not because of any concerns about consumer protection, but to ensure maximum return for the Greek State from the current sale process for its 33% stake in the Athens-listed betting and gaming monopoly.
In January, OPAP’s monopoly was ruled to be illegal as currently operated by Europe’s highest court, the CJEU. The court’s ruling cited OPAP’s advertising privileges, the absence of individual customer betting limits and its aggressive expansion in Greece and Cyprus as inconsistent with its purported objectives of providing enhanced consumer protection and combatting criminality. The joined cases had been brought by William Hill, Sportingbet and Stanleybet.
Article written by Katy Stirland
