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Over 4,500 lotto stations across Greece are closed today in protest against the tax on online bets approved by the Government of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks. According to the federation of lotto stations, this tax will destroy their sector but Deputy Minister of Finance Trifon Alexiadis is adamant that once passed, the tax will be applied, arguing the tax on online bets is very low.
     Under the new law, all Greek sweepstake games will be taxed with 0.05 euro. This will punish legal gambling whereas illegal gambling will continue to flourish, say the owners of lotto stations. Moreover, the new tax will reduce the total turnover of the games, thus reducing the total budget revenues from online bets.
    The federation warns that if the new tax is implemented, over 1,000 lotto stations will close. These are small, family businesses and their closure would increase unemployment.
    Lotto station owners threaten that today's 24-hour strike is just the beginning and if the government does not back down, they will proceed to more drastic forms of protest.