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Motivations Called into Question

The Greek government has long refused to comply with the European Commission’s request that the country readjust policies and regulations and end the current land and online casino gambling monopoly in the country that effectively prevents foreign companies from even remotely entering the market. The Greek government claims that the state monopoly, OPAP, is in place as a way to keep Greek citizens safe – that foreign companies do not have the same protections. In reality though, the blocking of foreign online casinos and land betting companies is almost wholly about the money and the competition and keeping state control over all of the gambling money being spent in the country.

That’s the aspect that has online casinos and other EU member-states so irate – it would be one thing if the foreign internet gambling industry were more dangerous than a state controlled monopoly, but that is not the case, and not what the research studies have indicated. A state monopoly means that the government is able to take a large portion of the gambling revenues for the state budget and completely monitor access and breadth of the games in the country. Foreign online casino sites on the other hand are just as safe, but benefit the whole of the EU economy and the free marketplace rather than one single country.

The European courts have ruled that there are actually some cases where a country could justify operating and online casino gambling monopoly for the sake of protecting gamblers – how to prove the motivations of these companies though is a whole other ball game. Which countries are genuinely interested in tight controls to protect gamblers, and which are protecting state revenues?