Newly married Georgalas the Psycharis:
An attack on his partner in Mega Fotis Bombola is launched by "Vima tis Kyriaki" with a front page article by Stavros Psycharis entitled "The gamble of shame". As is known, Fotis Bombolas participates in 50% of the online betting company "Stoiximan" (the other 50% is owned by Dimitris Maris of 24media) and for some time O.P.A.P. is in open war with the 24 betting companies operating under temporary licence.
O.P.A.P. is pressuring the government to remove these temporary licenses which it considers illegal under the legislation, while the betting companies consider that the "monopoly" of the O.P.A.P. it circumvents any concept of competition and they believe that there should be an appeal to the European courts to resolve the dispute, and until then they should work.
It is said that lately an underground war of influence has broken out between the O.P.A.P. and private companies, as both sides are each pressuring the government to make decisions in their favor.
Today's article by Stavros Psycharis, who takes the side of OPAP, asking for the closure of the betting companies, now transfers the war to Mega since Mr. Psycharis and Bobolas are partners in the Mediterranean channel.
«Cards, roulette, dice, betting can tear families apart", writes Stavros Psycharis in the main article of "Vima", "and to establish societies». Stavros Psycharis then talks about the smell of scandal regarding the temporary licensing of private betting companies and notes: "While the state O.P.A.P. was delaying its development in the name of its denationalization, international gambling pirates appeared in the Greek area. More than 20 betting companies started operating in our country taking advantage of the lack of a sufficient legal framework to control, punish and prevent illegal gambling. What did the officials in Greece do? Instead of cracking down on illegality they issued 24 temporary licenses for the operation of temporary gambling. We assume", concludes Stavros Psycharis, "that the first 24 illegals who received the temporary license as a gift, will claim as a privilege their audacity with which they obtained their temporary license. This situation is a shame for the state."
It is obvious that this attack by Stavros Psycharis on Fotis Bobolas ahead of the critical meeting of Mega's Board of Directors next Wednesday, will put the relationship between the two partners on the channel on a new trajectory, without even ruling out that this conflict may go beyond the limits. After all, hundreds of millions of euros are at stake annually in the "whether legal or illegal" bet, and a conflict of interest will be relentless.
Last edited:
