Illegal gambling is estimated to avail of around € 4 billion of which the Government has decided to take its share. This is defined in the new draft on Games market settlement, which was uploaded on the government website Οpen.Gov for public debate.
Slots permits will be issued according to the population of the city and in compliance with the requirements to their locations.
It is estimated that only the issuance of permits will earn about € 500 million for the treasury. The law determines the conditions and prerequisites for gambling games and the procedures for issuing permits. Slot machines and games of chance were officially banned in Greece in 2002, except in specific locations such as casinos and lottery points. This full ban resulted in condemnation of Greece by the EU Court and the country had to pay a fine of € 32,000 per day which is € 11.5 million a year.
Besides the economic cost to Greek taxpayers, the prohibition of games has led to the proliferation of illegal gambling that is out of control. A new market for electronic betting has been created in the Internet, which, however, operates without any rules and supervision. General assessments show that more than 250 websites for betting and about 20 000 electronic gaming machines for entertainment for a profit operate in Greece; there are 150,000 computers similar to slot machines for illegal playing of games of chance. Illegal turnover circulated from all of these games is about € 4 billion a year.
The draft law defines three types of permits. And most likely there will be a fierce struggle between the international companies for games of chance, the Greek lottery, Ιntralot and other business groups. Permits for games of chance on the Internet will be unlimited in number but all pages will be registered in Greece in order their activities to be controlled. Games of chance, which play certain amounts, will be restricted, for example, to € 300 a month. As for the slot machines, they have to be obligatory placed away from schools. Ship owners that move in the country have the right to place and fruit slot machines.
Permits for slot machines will be issued on the base of the number of inhabitants of a city. So, we can calculate that if the population of Greece is about 10 million people there will be approximately 32 000 slot machines in the country. Minors are prohibited from playing games of chance. They are allowed to play only games like Pac Man. Each player should issue identity card defining the person is elder than 18 years, the money that is bet, the restrictions on the amounts that each player determines individually and the amounts allowed to be spent for a day or month.
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
