By Nikos Chrysikopoulos
All the providers that to date offer, having been included in the relevant transitional provisions of the relevant law since 2011, legally gambling through the internet have requested their transfer to the new - through licensing - market operation regime.
According to information, after the expiration of the relevant deadline, yesterday 31/3, the competent services of the Gaming Supervision and Control Committee (GSC) received applications from all existing providers active in the online market, including OPAP, the Stoiximan, GVC, Bet365, Winmasters and others.
According to the same information, the interest is primarily for both types of administrative licenses that will be granted by the EEEP, namely the "Type 1 License" for conducting Internet Betting and the "Type 2 License" for conducting Other Online Games.
This license includes casino gambling, poker and its variants, provided online and conducted either live or using a random number generator (Random Number Generator).
It is reminded that based on the promoted regulatory framework for the online gambling market and the provisions of article 203 of Law 4635/2019, the existing providers that were included in the regime of Law 4002/2011 (article 50) and offered up to gambling through of the internet had to declare within the relevant deadline that they wish to join the transitional provisions of the new regime.
Follow
From there on, the time will start to count down from the moment the consultation is completed and the draft ministerial decision on the establishment of a Gaming Regulation and a Gaming Technical Regulation (IEP) for the organization and conduct of the Games is returned to the competent services of the Ministry of Finance. online games.
The texts were sent to the European consultation system TRIS at the end of 2019, with the status quo period ending today, 1 April 2020. In the TRIS system remains the "Gaming Regulations for Fitness" until 12/6/2020, the technical Regulation for the Register of Affiliates until 11/6/2020 and the Regulation on the management of changes in the Central Information Systems (CSF) until 20/5/2020.
Unless new data emerges from the consultation process, the Gaming Regulation will take its final form and the licensing process will begin, most likely within the next two months, as estimated by market players. The price for the 7-year licenses has been set at 3 million euros for "Type 1" (online betting) and 2 million euros for "Type 2" (other online games).
The proceeds from the issuance of licenses for online games are eagerly awaited by the Ministry of Finance and Mr. Staikouras, as they will strengthen public funds in an extremely difficult year, as is expected to be in 2020 due to the pandemic crisis. The Ministry of Finance has budgeted around 75 million euros as revenue from the granting of licenses, ie about 15 licenses, in addition to the revenues from the gaming tax.
Interested
As Capital.gr has reported, in addition to those who submitted an application by the relevant deadline to the EEEP, an exploratory interest has already been expressed by other providers, including 888 Group, Betsson, Fonbet, Betway and others. Processes in the market are expected to intensify in the near future as, among other things, there are stakeholders included in the list of unlicensed providers compiled by the EEEP (Blacklist) and others who wish to avoid the process from scratch in Greece. For this reason, market executives believe that it is possible to make acquisitions and / or partnerships between existing and new providers, in view of the start of the process.
Also, it remains to be seen how other providers that "share" VAT will be licensed, etc., what will happen to the white labels, what will the casino companies do that are considering the possibility of obtaining a license to be present on the internet and how will other groups move from telecoms and more broadly the media and the sports field that are interested in entering the market (s.s. in the model of OTE-Intralot cooperation). As a result, the final picture of market participants will be formed in the near future.
Furthermore, it is considered safe to say that there will be existing providers that will seek to strengthen their position in the new, now regulated, online gaming market that is being created.
The dynamics of the online market is a given, as evidenced by the data of EEEP that under Mr. Vangelis Karagrigoriou put an end to the years ago anarchic landscape of the online market, which translated into a significant increase in revenue from taxation of providers in recent years. years. The gross revenue of online providers last year reached 437 million euros, up 11%.
Revenues that have been under pressure lately, due to the absence of substantially important sporting events, and therefore an expanded betting object.
For this reason, the weight of several providers - in Greece and Europe - has been given to virtual games, live casinos, etc., with their relative commercial visibility having increased significantly and in fact to be associated with the coronation and stay in home.
For this reason, the European Gambling Associations also issued a statement calling for measures to be taken to protect the public and to comply with the rules of responsible betting and the promotion of betting services.
All the providers that to date offer, having been included in the relevant transitional provisions of the relevant law since 2011, legally gambling through the internet have requested their transfer to the new - through licensing - market operation regime.
According to information, after the expiration of the relevant deadline, yesterday 31/3, the competent services of the Gaming Supervision and Control Committee (GSC) received applications from all existing providers active in the online market, including OPAP, the Stoiximan, GVC, Bet365, Winmasters and others.
According to the same information, the interest is primarily for both types of administrative licenses that will be granted by the EEEP, namely the "Type 1 License" for conducting Internet Betting and the "Type 2 License" for conducting Other Online Games.
This license includes casino gambling, poker and its variants, provided online and conducted either live or using a random number generator (Random Number Generator).
It is reminded that based on the promoted regulatory framework for the online gambling market and the provisions of article 203 of Law 4635/2019, the existing providers that were included in the regime of Law 4002/2011 (article 50) and offered up to gambling through of the internet had to declare within the relevant deadline that they wish to join the transitional provisions of the new regime.
Follow
From there on, the time will start to count down from the moment the consultation is completed and the draft ministerial decision on the establishment of a Gaming Regulation and a Gaming Technical Regulation (IEP) for the organization and conduct of the Games is returned to the competent services of the Ministry of Finance. online games.
The texts were sent to the European consultation system TRIS at the end of 2019, with the status quo period ending today, 1 April 2020. In the TRIS system remains the "Gaming Regulations for Fitness" until 12/6/2020, the technical Regulation for the Register of Affiliates until 11/6/2020 and the Regulation on the management of changes in the Central Information Systems (CSF) until 20/5/2020.
Unless new data emerges from the consultation process, the Gaming Regulation will take its final form and the licensing process will begin, most likely within the next two months, as estimated by market players. The price for the 7-year licenses has been set at 3 million euros for "Type 1" (online betting) and 2 million euros for "Type 2" (other online games).
The proceeds from the issuance of licenses for online games are eagerly awaited by the Ministry of Finance and Mr. Staikouras, as they will strengthen public funds in an extremely difficult year, as is expected to be in 2020 due to the pandemic crisis. The Ministry of Finance has budgeted around 75 million euros as revenue from the granting of licenses, ie about 15 licenses, in addition to the revenues from the gaming tax.
Interested
As Capital.gr has reported, in addition to those who submitted an application by the relevant deadline to the EEEP, an exploratory interest has already been expressed by other providers, including 888 Group, Betsson, Fonbet, Betway and others. Processes in the market are expected to intensify in the near future as, among other things, there are stakeholders included in the list of unlicensed providers compiled by the EEEP (Blacklist) and others who wish to avoid the process from scratch in Greece. For this reason, market executives believe that it is possible to make acquisitions and / or partnerships between existing and new providers, in view of the start of the process.
Also, it remains to be seen how other providers that "share" VAT will be licensed, etc., what will happen to the white labels, what will the casino companies do that are considering the possibility of obtaining a license to be present on the internet and how will other groups move from telecoms and more broadly the media and the sports field that are interested in entering the market (s.s. in the model of OTE-Intralot cooperation). As a result, the final picture of market participants will be formed in the near future.
Furthermore, it is considered safe to say that there will be existing providers that will seek to strengthen their position in the new, now regulated, online gaming market that is being created.
The dynamics of the online market is a given, as evidenced by the data of EEEP that under Mr. Vangelis Karagrigoriou put an end to the years ago anarchic landscape of the online market, which translated into a significant increase in revenue from taxation of providers in recent years. years. The gross revenue of online providers last year reached 437 million euros, up 11%.
Revenues that have been under pressure lately, due to the absence of substantially important sporting events, and therefore an expanded betting object.
For this reason, the weight of several providers - in Greece and Europe - has been given to virtual games, live casinos, etc., with their relative commercial visibility having increased significantly and in fact to be associated with the coronation and stay in home.
For this reason, the European Gambling Associations also issued a statement calling for measures to be taken to protect the public and to comply with the rules of responsible betting and the promotion of betting services.