The EU Commission has sent the latest in a long series of letters complaining that Greek gambling regulation is in breach of EU law.
The trigger for the latest missive was a decision by the Greek Finance Ministry to offer partially state-owned OPAP SA a ten year monopoly on virtually all online gaming.
OPAP currently has a monopoly on all offline gambling in Greece. This monopoly is the subject of a legal challenge and the industry anticipates that it will be ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice.
The industry was quick to decry the Greek move.
?There can be no justification for extending OPAP?s monopoly to cover nearly every aspect of online gambling,? stated The Remote Gambling Association in a recent press release. ?We have urged the Greek government to reconsider and have called on the European Commission to take action if it does not, because this move is a blatant breach of EU process and EU law.?
European operator SportingBet complained recently that it was ?scandalous? that Greece was planning to award OPAP an extension of its monopoly, adding it was ?a disgrace? and the Greek government ?should be ashamed with how this has been allowed to happen.?
Sportingbet has 50,000 Greek customers which it would lose if this monopoly arrangement goes ahead.
The EU Commission letter tells the Greeks that the ultimatum they issued last month to gaming companies should not be enforced. The Commission has issued its own action plan for gaming regulation which explicitly criticises national regulations which breach EU law.
New Greek gaming regulations provided 24 interim licenses and a provision to establish a licensing system for permanent applications. No such system has been put in place and if the deal with OPAP goes through, all 24 interim license holders including online poker providers would have to leave the Greek market. William Hill has already withdrawn from the market.
The Chairman of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, Eugene Giannakopoulos, was asked about the Greek response to the EU?s letter and replied, ?We will respect European law.?
He indicated that the problems lay with decisions made by the Treasury and not his own department. As yet the Treasury has not made any public statements on the issue.
Giannakopolous further promised that the Gaming Commission would initiate no action against gaming companies licensed by any EU country even if they did not have one of the original 24 Greek licenses. He added that they would certainly not be taking action against any players betting online with any company regulated in the EU.
Source: http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-regulation/greek-gaming-regulation-under-fire-18-12/
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