Greece to regulate online gambling

Greece is estimated to have a gambling market worth about £7.24 billion in taxable revenue and this is just a fraction of the country’s massive national debt. The country is seeking to boost revenues and the Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou recently stated that changes would be made to Greece’s gambling laws.

According to Reuters, the Greek Finance Ministry said in an e-mail that "The regulative framework will soon be presented for public consultation."  The country is expecting to earn £1 billion over the next three years in revenues from betting licenses and royalties.

Currently, Greece refuses to let go of its monopoly on gambling and according to the current draft, OPAP will continue to maintain a monopoly status on sports betting and lottery ticket sales till the year 2019. However, licences to operate online casinos and online poker rooms in Greece will be made available by the government though this is expected to happen sometime in early 2011. The draft is expected to be similar to Italy and France where gambling operators are expected to adhere to strict regulations in order to provide online gambling options to Greek citizens.

At the moment, casino players from Greece can access several online casino sites that operate out of the country. Many online casinos even have Greek versions of their sites so players can enjoy a better gaming experience. Just last week, a player won over £11,000 with the Iron Man slots game at King Solomons Casino while another Greek player had a big win at Windows Casino with the Funky Monkey slot game winning €10,958. And just a fortnight ago, a Greek casino player at King Solomons had won a massive progressive jackpot of €119,828 with the Queen of Pyramids slot.

The checks and balances that the Greek government plans on putting in place to control revenues from offshore gaming remains to be seen.

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Written by Debbie Hall for Online Keno – your source for the latest news and developments from the world of online gambling.