The Greek government plans to submit legislation to parliament early next year to regulate the gambling market and grant some betting licenses, according to the Finance Ministry.
Online gambling, which is currently banned, will be legalized and some licenses will be issued for other games of chance, the Athens-based ministry said in an e-mailed statement today. A Gambling Supervision Commission will be set up to monitor the industry, the statement said.
The changes aim to boost government revenue by more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in two to three years, the statement said.
The illegal gambling market in Greece is worth 4 billion euros a year, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on Sept. 21.
Opap SA, Europe’s biggest gambling company in which the government holds a 35 percent stake, has a monopoly on Greek sports betting until 2020. The government will seek advice in the first quarter of 2011 on extending the concession and “an assessment of the best available options for the management” of its stake, the finance ministry said on Dec. 16.
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