As the Greek market gets ready to introduce machine gaming in street locations, InterGame considers what the future may hold for the market following the launch of video lottery terminals.

Greece is the word

SINCE 2011 and the passing of new legislation in Greece, the gaming industry has been awaiting the opening of the country’s video lottery terminals market.

Estimates of the number of illegal gambling machines in street locations – possibly in their tens of thousands – suggest that the appetite for gaming among the population is strong and that the opening of a legal, fully-regulated market there could be lucrative indeed.

The law passed in 2011 awarded OPAP, formerly a state-owned company but now privately owned, the exclusive licence to operate 35,000 VLTs. The company will operate 16,500 machines itself, while a further 18,500 will be in the hands of concessionaires. In total, then, if each location takes 25 machines, there will be 1,400 VLT venues.

The motivation behind the government’s decision to introduce this new form of gaming is to tackle the problem of unlicensed illegal gambling, said a representative for OPAP.

“The key factor behind this move by the Greek state, as declared in its reasoning behind the law and as is the case in most of the world, was to combat illegal gambling, curb the loss of revenue resulting from tax evasion from the illegal venues and to protect the players through proper control and monitoring of this activity through enforcement and responsible gaming policies.”

These gaming policies will include maximum bets (a stake of €2 for a maximum win of €1,000), daily loss limits and the use of player cards.

Read the full article in the January issue of InterGame