Remote gambling industry calls on European Commission to safeguard notifications

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) and the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) have filed a complaint with the European Commission regarding the non-notification of regulations that will extend OPAP’s monopoly on online gambling and impose harsh enforcement measures while the compliance of the new law with EU law remains in question.

The EGBA and RGA, which between them represent the majority of the largest European remote gambling operators, are concerned that the Greek Government has failed to begin licensing online gambling operators. This was a central measure of the new gambling law passed in August 2011. Instead the Greek Government has decided to grant OPAP, the incumbent monopoly gambling operator for offline games, an extension of its licence for 10 more years from 2020 to 2030 and also to extend the monopoly to include online gambling. This process has shown a disdain for EU law and has been wholly non-transparent. The failure to notify the Commission under directive 98/34/EC reflects that.

The regulations introduce wide-ranging enforcement measures including ISP and payment blocking, fines on banks and internet providers who facilitate gambling and fines on operators who have not been granted a licence.

According to Sigrid Ligné, Secretary General of EGBA, “Commissioner Barnier recently confirmed that the he would take his responsibilities seriously in ensuring the compliance of Member States’ gambling legislation with EU law. We trust the Commissioner will urgently investigate our complaint and take action accordingly against Greece as well as on several other pending complaints.”

Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the RGA added: “When the Greek Government said it was going to license and regulate the domestic online gambling market we welcomed this as a positive step. However, instead of encouraging the development of a competitive and well-regulated market, the Greek Government and Gaming Commission are blocking major European private operators from it. We therefore look to the Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, to ensure that Greece follows the correct procedures and that the laws that it is seeking to introduce are fully compliant with EU law.”

 Background to Greek gambling legislation

Greece’s gambling market is under the control of the publicly listed (the Greek State is one of its shareholders) company OPAP, the exclusive operator organizing lotteries and sports bets. In June 2007, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Greece’s gambling regime with a letter of formal notice, which was followed by a reasoned opinion on 28 February 2008.1 The European Commission has not taken any further action with regard to this legislation.

In July 2011, the Commission together with Malta issued a detailed opinion against the new draft Greek gambling regime in the context of the Notification procedure laid down in Directive 98/34/EC.2 In August of 2011, the Greek government proceeded with the adoption of the new law without making substantial changes to the strong concerns issued by the European Commission. Moreover, the Ministerial Decision on 13 December 2011 required EU licenced operators active in Greece to pay their taxes on any revenues earned from Greece – based customers retroactively from the 1st January 2010.

In October 2011 the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) launched a state aid complaint against Greece with the European Commission regarding the favourable tax treatment offered to OPAP under the new law. This was followed in November 2011 by a joint internal market complaint from the EGBA and RGA, which highlights a range of non-EU compliant barriers to new market entrants.

In September 2012 Advocate General Mazák, in the joined Greek cases (C-186/11 and C-209/11) at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considered the OPAP monopoly to be contrary to EU law. OPAP expansionist commercial policies clearly fail to fulfil the EU law requirements and it lacks appropriate control of public authorities. Mazák’s opinion is not binding but will be considered by the CJEU in its final ruling that is expected to take place within few months.

Last but not least, in early November 2012, the Greek Gaming Commission published in the Official Hellenic Gazette, a decision n° 23/3/23.10.2012 on the "Regulation of matters governed by the Regulation for the Conduct and Control of Games concerning the imposition of administrative sanctions incurred where games of chance are conducted online without a license". With this decision the GGC establishes the conditions for the elaboration of a "black list" of online gambling operators on the basis of which Internet Service Providers ("ISPs"), namely all Greek access providers, must block access to non-licensed gambling operators’ websites

Despite Greece’s welcomed intention to reform its gambling market, the fact remains that both Greece’s old and new gambling regimes are still not EU compliant. The new reform is currently the subject of a number of complaints at EU level as it contains a range of clear anti-competitive and protectionist restrictions.

For further information or comment please contact Sigrid Ligné: +32 2 554 08 90, EGBA Secretary General or Sue Rossiter, RGA Director of Policy and Projects +44 (0) 20 7831 2195.

1 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/338&type=HTML
2 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tris/public_info/index_en.htm

About EGBA

The EGBA is an association of leading European gaming and betting operators Bet-at-home.com, BetClic, bwinparty, Digibet, Expekt, Interwetten, and Unibet. EGBA is a Brussels-based non-profit association. It promotes the right of private gaming and betting operators that are regulated and licensed in one Member State to a fair market access throughout the European Union. Online gaming and betting is a fast growing market, but will remain for the next decades a limited part of the overall European gaming market in which the traditional land based offer is expected to grow from € 71.9 Billion GGR in 2010 to € 79 Billion GGR in 2015, thus keeping the lion’s share with 86% of the market. Source: H2 Gambling Capital, September 2011.

For further information or comment please contact:
Sigrid Ligné: +32 2 554 08 90

About the RGA

The RGA is the largest online gambling trade association in the world representing around 30 of the largest licensed and stock market-listed remote gambling operators and software providers (see www.rga.eu.com). The organisation provides the remote gambling industry with a single voice on all issues of importance to regulators, legislators, and key decision makers around the world.