Greece Rules OPAP Monopoly Legal

Thursday October 2,2014 : OPAP MONOPOLY LEGAL RULES GREEK COURT

Gambling monopoly in the pound seats?

Greece's Council of State rejected a drawn out challenge by potential competitors Tuesday ruling OPAP's gambling monopoly as legal.

The William Hill, StanleyBet and Sportingbet challenge, ongoing since 2004, questioned the legality of the monopoly saying EU rules on freedom of services were being flouted.

Last year the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) ruled the OPAP monopoly illegal but noted that if reforms were implemented to protect consumers, the monopoly was justified.

This week, the Greek court ruled OPAP's monopoly in line with European law since gambling sector reforms implemented in 2011 combat illegal betting and protect consumers against criminality.