Key Takeaways
- The RGA has sent a letter to EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier requesting that he intervene to prevent the re-establishment of a monopoly for OPAP.
- The request is unlikely to meet with success as M Barnier will have been instrumental in removing the EU block on amendments to Greek gaming law which provide for the monopoly.
- The EU’s acceptance of the situation is directly related to the risks to financial stability in the Eurozone if Greece had not met the conditions for its latest bailout payment.
- The sale of the government’s share in OPAP was a critical condition for the release of the installment.
- The sale was put at risk because only one qualified bidder emerged, and that bidder baulked at the terms of a lottery contract which the existing management planned to sign.
In an immediate response to the formal publication of the Greek blacklist, the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has written directly to the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, demanding he takes action to “prevent anti-competitive reforms to Greek gambling law.”
