OPAP hates Greece’s new gambling tax, loves online casino monopoly

Betting operator OPAP says it will mount a legal challenge of Greece‘s new gambling tax, while the government may soften the hit to OPAP by excluding casino games from its new online gambling licensing regime.

On Tuesday, finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos announced that the country had worked out a deal with its international lenders to free up additional billions of badly needed bailout cash. The deal includes a five Euro-cent tax on OPAP’s lottery and sports betting products, with the aim of raising an additional €300m to €400m in annual tax revenue.

OPAP spokesman Odysseas Christophorou warned that the plan would backfire on the government, as the new tax would discourage gamblers from engaging in their favorite flutter, thereby lowering OPAP’s overall tax contribution to the state. OPAP’s 2014 tax bill came to over €500m, thanks to the new 30% tax on revenue imposed by the government in 2013.

To smooth OPAP’s ruffled feathers, the government is reportedly considering excluding random number generator (RNG) casino games from its new online licensing regime, thereby preserving OPAP’s online casino monopoly. Greece has vowed to raise an additional €500m in tax revenue by issuing new online gambling licenses, tenders for which could open as early as Q1 2016.