The European Commission has rejected for a second time Greece’s request for the consideration of Gambling Regulation with an urgency.
European authorities have set a deadline of consultation and review on June 6, 2011, a standard three-month procedure. Greek government resent the draft law, asking to be considered an emergency procedure on the grounds of disrupting public order, due to the increasing number of active interpreters.
This development reverses government’s plan to raise €700m from gambling in 2011, which now turns its attention to alternative sources of revenue. There are reported two different internal government guidelines regarding privatizations and public gambling company OPAP.
The front runner solution is the allocation of state’s participation (34.4%) in OPAP in 2012 after the valuation is completed, the extension of licensing of OPAP games beyond 2020 and the privatization of Horse Racing Corporation and State Lottery.
Several changes to the taxation of certain games are possible, through the increasing of tax on profits. This measure, if adopted, is expected to cause new reactions in a market that already suffers the consequences of the decline in spending on gambling.
As regards the “weaning” of OPAP by the state, there are several lawmakers who expressed their opposition, however top government officials state that the implementation of the objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding has become something more than a dire necessity.
European authorities have set a deadline of consultation and review on June 6, 2011, a standard three-month procedure. Greek government resent the draft law, asking to be considered an emergency procedure on the grounds of disrupting public order, due to the increasing number of active interpreters.
This development reverses government’s plan to raise €700m from gambling in 2011, which now turns its attention to alternative sources of revenue. There are reported two different internal government guidelines regarding privatizations and public gambling company OPAP.
The front runner solution is the allocation of state’s participation (34.4%) in OPAP in 2012 after the valuation is completed, the extension of licensing of OPAP games beyond 2020 and the privatization of Horse Racing Corporation and State Lottery.
Several changes to the taxation of certain games are possible, through the increasing of tax on profits. This measure, if adopted, is expected to cause new reactions in a market that already suffers the consequences of the decline in spending on gambling.
As regards the “weaning” of OPAP by the state, there are several lawmakers who expressed their opposition, however top government officials state that the implementation of the objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding has become something more than a dire necessity.
