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Expansion Plans Will Wait

The Greek state-run gambling monopoly, OPAP has announced that the company’s year-end financial results for 2007 were extremely positive. OPAP is one of several online casinos gambling and betting monopolies operating with the European Union despite repeated cease and desist request from the European Commission. Greece, like ten other EU nations, runs a gambling monopoly in the country and plans to keep the monopoly for as long as possible. The only way that the Commission can really force the state governments into compliance is by threatening to bring the nations up before the European Court of Justice.

As for OPAP, the CEO at the company has announced that he will fight the opening up of the Greek online casinos gambling market at every possible turn. CEO Christos Hadjiemmanuil has noted that the in light of OPAP’s year-on-year growth of more than 12 percent, the company is looking to 2008 as a great year to get the online casino gambling and betting company reorganized and to resolve the issues with the Commission. The EU Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy has noted that he will fight all of the state-run gambling monopolies for as long as it takes to bring the nations into compliance. That same ferocity though is felt by the Greek government as well as Hadjiemmanuil in efforts to keep foreign operators out of Greece.

But in concession to the fact that OPAP may be forced into competition with foreign online casinos gambling operators if Greece loses the fight with the Commission, Hadjiemmanuil has commented that OPAP is waiting on the outcome of the run-in with the Commission before initiating any rumored expansion plans. Also, Hadjiemmanuil acknowledged the possibility that that OPAP and Greece could lose the case, and noted, “…If worst comes to worst and we lose the monopoly, then only some very gullible people will believe that OPAP would cease to be profit-making.”

There is a definite chance that the online casinos gambling monopolies will fold once the Commission follows through on the many threats.