From Online-Casinos.com – The online gambling industry in Europe has been going through some serious issues mostly regarding the various monopolies that individual governments are keeping in spite of the European rules on free e-commerce among nations. A recent article in the Greek Reporter has again brought to light the latest news in a long story referring to the Greek Gambling monopoly OPAP.
The government of Greece has had its share of difficult challenges of late and they being faced with yet another from the Remote Gambling Association which said it will sue over the deal that grants exclusive rights to run the agency. A Greek-Czech consortium recently purchased the government stake with the deal unraveling over some of the details. The Remote Gambling Association has requested an injunction be issued to stop the government’s decision to approve the privatization of 33 percent of the betting firm.
In the 100-page brief,the RGA argues against the decision on 12 grounds, but chiefly that the State Audit Council approved the OPAP sale without waiting for a European Commission ruling on whether the ceding of the exclusive right for online betting constitutes state aid.
Officials at the government’s privatizations agency contend the court action by the RGA is unlikely to prevent the signing of the contract sale. The lawyers for the government organization are citing recent legislation that deprives third parties of the right to file injunctions against positive decisions by the State Audit Council. OPAP holds the rights to online betting in Greece exclusively until 2020. According to the contract s with Hellenic Lotteries, and Emma Delta Intralot will provide technical support and Scientific Games will undertake the printing of the scratch lottery tickets.
