FT: Greek gambling plan branded ‘a disgrace’

By Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent

Sportingbet has branded plans by Greece to award a monopoly in online gambling to state betting operator OPAP “a disgrace”, but said it would continue to take bets in the country for the time being.

The group, which is in the process of being bought by William Hill and its joint venture partner GVC Holdings, is one of 24 online gambling operators which signed interim licences to operate in Greece but which may now have to quit the Greek market. 

OPAP already enjoys a monopoly on offline betting, but the Greek finance ministry is now proposing to end the interim licences and extend OPAP’s monopoly to include online sports betting and other gambling products, with a licence to last until 2020.

sportingbet has 50,000 active Greek players who are expected to provide €20m-€25m of revenues in 2013, and earnings of €3m-€4m. 

The group said: “It remains business as usual and depending on what any official announcement says, sportingbet will take the appropriate action at that time.” 

The industry is awaiting a ruling from the European Court of Justice on the legality of the offline monopoly held by OPAP. 
william hill has already reduced its joint offer for Sportingbet to £485m after the UK-listed group reported a decline in third-quarter revenues. Butwilliam hill is unconcerned about sportingbet’s Greek business, because it only intends to purchase the group’s “clean” regulated assets.

The proposed actions by the Greek government highlight growing volatility in European gambling markets, with some member states reluctant to open up online gambling to competition. 

Betfair last month said it was withdrawing from Greece, having already said it was pulling out of Germany and complained about new laws in Cyprus.

william hill also said it was abandoning the Greek market in light of warnings from the government that operators without licences faced financial penalties and criminal action.
Gambling operators have complained to the European Commission about the gambling regimes of several member states.

sportingbet said: “It is scandalous that the Greek ministry of finance is planning to award OPAP an extension of its monopoly. What is particularly galling is the fact OPAP’s incumbent hand has been strengthened as the monopoly now covers not only the offline arena but also the e-gaming space as well.
“This is a disgrace and the Greek government should be ashamed with how this has been allowed to happen.”

The Remote Gambling Association said:

“There can be no justification for extending OPAP’s monopoly to cover nearly every aspect of online gambling. 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.”

available at http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0d7a9...#axzz2ErTE9ZBT