Tryfon Alexiadis, the Deputy Finance Minister of Greece has expressed the view that the current transitional period in which operators offer their online product in Greece has to end. The statement came last week and it’s believed to be the direct result of the economic crisis that has hit Greece last year. It seems that the crisis has lead many greeks to start gambling and even develop an addiction for it.
There has been a 25% increase in the gambling addicts that were seeking help from greek authorities in the last five years.
The number of gamblers and their families who come to the Therapy Center for Dependent Individuals (KETHEA) for help has increased 20-%, said the manager of the ALPHA program, Antonis Parios.
The larger section of these gamblers are online gamblers.
Greece is among the top 10 markets in Europe when it comes to gambling and it is still has not yet been regulated properly to bring revenues from taxing.
Mr. Alexiadis has pre-announced the govt’s intention to proceed with a licensing process and forge a final regulatory landscape in online gaming industry. The announcement came on the 8th of January 2016.
He also pointed out that the 24 online operators that are currently operating under this temporary regime have contributed with minimal taxex to the state coffers (€<60K in the last three years).
There is a large chunk of taxes that could be cashed in by the Hellenic government, so their plans are surely to be implement really fast.
