Greek government to present two gambling bills

Euclid Tsakalotos, Finance Minister of Greece, revealed on Friday that two bills will be presented to Parliament before Christmas. The bills will talk about the regulation of online gaming and the casino market.

Tsakalotos’ claims come after a meeting of the house’s Financial Affairs Committee that talked about the revision of the legislation on video lottery terminals (VLTs) presented in 2011. The Minister said that he’s in favor of the new regulations for VLTs, as he believes that the modality can bring annual revenues of more than US$380 million to the state in the long run, local media reported.

The Netherlands-born official added that the government extended state gambling monopoly OPAP’s license to operate VLTs in the territory in order to compensate for the reduction of the terminals that the company is allowed to operate.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the introduction of a new legislation would bring a series of international operators, as they have asked government officials about that and the project that will be developed in the Elliniko plot by a consortium. The bill has already received proposals from institutions that estimate a mixed system that would decrease the tax rate on gross turnover from 30-37 percent to 25 percent or lower.