Greece unveiled a long-awaited draft law to lift a ban on amusement and low-stake gaming machines and allow online gambling at the end of January.
The government hopes the law will yield hundreds of millions of euros in extra budget revenues and help it crack down on unlicensed betting.
The new draft law will see Greece auction 15-50 five-year online betting licences and 10-year licences for up to 30,000 low-stake gaming machines. The minimum payout to winners will be 80 per cent for both low-price gaming machines and online betting and amusement gaming machines will be allowed in licensed locations. The government will collect a six per cent tax on online gambling and gaming machine revenues.
However, when InterGame spoke with Thanassis Kopsidis of Computer Games at the ICE Totally Gaming show, he told us that the new law could see a monopolisation of the market.
"The Greek government has come up with a new law which would see a small ‘ghetto’ of two or three companies profit out of coin-op games - gambling and amusement," he said. "The law states that to acquire a licence for coin-op arcade games, then €50,000 has to be paid in advance for one year’s permission. If the operator does not indulge in any illegal activity during this 12-month period they will receive a refund, but would then need to pay another €50,000 for the following year. So, as you can imagine the whole market will struggle and become victims of the Greek government once more."
