There has been an influx of online gambling licenses. To date, 17 applications have been submitted, of which 16 relate to both types of online gambling licenses, while only one application has been submitted for one type of license.
It is noted that according to the relevant legislation, the Greek state will grant an unlimited number of type A licenses for online gambling and type B for other games that are played either live (eg casino) or through a random generator. numbers (RNG). The price for each type A license is 3 million Euros and each type B license is 2 million Euros. Both types of licenses are valid for 7 years.
If all goes well, the Greek State has secured revenues of over 80 million Euros, compared to 75 million Euros which was the target of the budget. In fact, this process has not been completed yet. The Greek side is permanently open and accepts licensing applications without a deadline in the expression of interest. The licensing process started on August 5, 2020 for the existing providers who hold a temporary license since 2012 and on September 11, 2020 the process of submitting interest for new entrants to the Greek market began.
Registration in Betting: Conditions, Criteria and Instructions
For this development, there is widespread satisfaction in the Ministry of Finance. Demand was high. Most importantly, however, the completion of this process will streamline and bring state control over a market that was within the bounds of legal operation. Providers will now be fully accountable for their revenue, as their PCs will be connected to the PCs of the independent gaming regulator.
It is recalled that this market currently operated under a temporary licensing regime, where the financial data of the companies were at the discretion of the companies themselves. So the Greeks bet every year on the internet "goddess of luck", without the Ministry of Finance having any basic control.
The number of licensed providers is not going to go up much more than today, as everyone interprets that those who were to come did so. In fact, given that the domestic market today is quite concentrated in three or four companies, it is not considered attractive enough. Moreover, the entrance fee is considered high, since each entry (with the acquisition of both type A and B permits) costs an average of 5 million Euros, when in other countries these permits are obtained instead of a few thousand euros. So the chosen process attracts the interest of medium and large online gambling companies.
By Vangelis Mandravelis
Source: liberal