The Remote Gambling Authority has called on the European Commission to prevent the Greek online gaming market from becoming a closed shop.
Anti-competitive reforms to Greek gambling legislation are threatening the opening of the country’s i-gaming market, the association warned. These amendments to the law could see betting giant OPAP given an online monopoly.
In 2008, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Greece setting out its view that OPAP’s offline gambling monopoly is not compatible with EU law. The European Court of Justice also stated in the recent Stanleybet ruling that Greece had not provided any evidence to justify the existence of OPAP’s offline monopoly.
Since then, OPAP has been accused of “aggressive” promotion of its gambling products and the country has made no changes to its laws. According to the RGA, the government is in fact proposing extending OPAP’s monopoly to cover online gaming as well.
“The RGA understands that Greece is currently under considerable pressure because it has to address the obligations set by its creditors for the financing of its public sector and debts,” said Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the RGA. “We also appreciate that because of that, the Commission might be minded to give Greece greater leeway than usual.
“However, after five years there must surely be a limit to how far Greece can unjustifiably be allowed to stretch the rules. Greece needs stability and legal certainty.
“We are therefore urging Commissioner Barnier to make it clear to the Greek authorities that he will not hesitate to bring early infringement proceedings against Greece if it does not fulfil its obligations and, even worse, if it creates new breaches of EU law by awarding an online sports betting monopoly to OPAP instead of creating an EU compliant gambling regime.”
