OPAP stripped of Greek online sports betting licence

Greek operator OPAP has been stripped of its licence to operate online sports betting sites in Greece following a ruling by the Greek Council of State.

Under Greek law, operators are required to submit a tender for a permanent licence to operate sports betting but OPAP has never done so thanks a directive from the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) issued in 2014, that exempted OPAP from the process.

The HGC cited the presence of the firm’s pre-existing licences as negating the need to do so.

Austrian company Goalbet however launched a lawsuit in the Greek courts, claiming that in exempting OPAP from the application tendering process, the HGC was contravening Greek law.

Following the Greek Council of State ruling, OPAP has been ordered to cease all online sports betting operations and can only continue to offer bets offline. In addition, the firm must reapply for a new sports betting licence.

However, analysts have downplayed the loss of OPAP’s sports betting licence on its operations, citing the fact its online sports betting contributes less than 1% of OPAP’s total gross gaming revenue. In addition, the ruling does not affect the company’s retail sports betting and lottery businesses, which account for the bulk of its revenues.

Greek financial brokerage firm Pantelakis said: “As great headlines as this court ruling makes, in effect it has a small impact on OPAP leaving aside the fact that Greek lawmakers will very likely make the necessary legal changes so as to appease the State Council,”.

OPAP went live with its pamestoixima.gr sports betting site in July 2014 and in  2017 agreed a deal with Betgenius to migrate its online sportsbook business to the supplier’s platform.

At present, Greek authorities are currently awaiting European Commission approval on a new bill which will allow for the licensing of online gambling and sports betting operators and also provide for the regulation of the affiliate industry for the first time.