Breaking news: Greek finance ministry proposes 2020 OPAP monopoly
Leaked bill would force 24 interim-licensed operators to shut down Greek sites by January.
The Greek ministry of finance has submitted a bill which would see OPAP maintain a monopoly across all online betting until 2020, contradicting the its regulator’s plans to begin a limited licensing process.
The amendment to Greek law 4002/2011, which could be voted on this month, would cancel the interim licences of the 24 operators that paid taxes to the regulator in order to continue operating until the official licensing process began. A date has yet to be confirmed.
OPAP holds a monopoly across all offline betting products in Greece including sports betting, however despite the fact that online regulation has still to be finalised, it was expected that casino and poker licences would be awarded to overseas operators as part of a three-year process.
Foreign operators were asked by the country’s regulator in August this year to shut down their Greek operations or pay an interim licence which would allow them to continue taking bets in the jurisdiction while the small print around final licensing was completed.
The likes of Paddy Power and Sportingbet have paid undisclosed fees, however others including William Hill, Betfair and bwin.party had until today (5 December) to cease operations or face being placed on a blacklist. Both Betfair and William Hill have since withdrawn from the market with William Hill’s board announcing yesterday that it considers Greece’s current regulatory framework to be “inconsistent with European law” and “economically unattractive” in its current guise.
Betfair generates around 6% of its overall revenues from Greece while William Hill yesterday added that it generates approximately £4 to £5m of operating profit a year from Greek residents.
The amendments proposed by the ministry of finance effectively overrule and nullify this entire process, with the 24 ‘licensed’ operators set to be asked to close down operations by January.
More to follow…