The Greek proposal

Those who have been following developments in the Greek gaming sector will remember that following a public frenzy in 2002, the Greek government introduced Law 3037/2002. This banned the provision of all gaming in all public venues, including slot machines, VLTs and computer operated gaming.

A few years later, in October 2006, following a legal challenge before the European Court of Jusitce against Law 3037/2002, Greece was convicted for its failure to fulfil its obligations under Articles 28 EC, 43 EC and 49 of the EC Treaty, and Article 8 of Directive 98/34/CE of the European Parliament and of the European Council.

Despite this conviction however, the Greek government subsequently failed to take action, which led thereafter to the imposition of a fine of €3m for breach of EU law, as well as a fine of €31,536 per day of delay. This equated an additional burden on the annual budget of the State equal to €11.5m per year, while it delayed taking action.

The current Greek government, under pressure to maximise the profits of the Greek State and diminish the country’s foreign debt, has recently published a bill on the regulation of the gaming market through which it plans to generate revenues in the region of €700m. The bill was open for a few days for public consultation, and it is expected to be introduced in Parliament shortly.

Besides the introduction of new initiatives in the Greek legislative framework such as “responsible gaming” and “player ID cards”, the main points of the new law which was discussed in the Ministerial Council that was held on 25 January 2011 were as follows:

• The bill introduces the Committee for the Monitoring and Supervision of Gaming as the authority for the issuance of licences, in addition to the certification, monitoring and supervision of conduct and exploitation of gaming. The Committee is entrusted with the supervision of both gaming and technical games, as well as the supervision of casinos.
• The Minister of Finance will reserve the right to grant 15 and up to 50 internet gaming licences, awarded following an international tender process. These licenses are personal, non-transferable and last for five years.
• Gaming through VLTs is also authorised. The Minister of Finance will reserve the right to grant four and up to ten “wide scale” licenses, concerning 25,000 VLTs. The Committee may also grant a number between 1,000 and up to 5,000 “limited” licences, all with a ten-year term.

One of the most notable provisions of the bill is Article 26§10, which stipulates that any entity interested in participating in a tender procedure must abstain from offering, conducting, exploiting or operating online gaming or advertising the conduct of such games or the exploitation and operation of similar websites, as from the date the bill comes into force. This is similar to the “black period” originally proposed by Danish authorities.

In simple words, what the government is saying to all interested parties is that once this bill becomes law, you must disappear entirely from the Greek market if you wish to be eligible for a licence. Given the vast number of operators offering and advertising online gaming and betting to Greek nationals, it is interesting to see how the market will react to this.

Other significant provisions of the bill include that stipulating that parties wishing to participate in the tender process will have to be registered or have their permanent establishment in Greece, and websites which offer gaming services must have a dot.gr URL.

As for taxation, the bill introduces a 6% turnover tax on each licensee, payable on a quarterly basis.

Last but not least, criminal sanctions are also provided for perpetrators, ranging from fines to imprisonment sentences. The bill clearly states that among others, the chairman of the board of directors, the managing directors or general directors of legal entities operating illegally in Greece, as well as any person involved in the management or operation of the legal entity, will be treated as perpetrators.