Stanleybet Complaint Turns Brussels' Eye toward Greece

Following complaints by Greek punters and intermediaries working in Stanleybet International’s outlets in the country, the European Parliament has announced that it will be investigating judicial abuses in Greece’s sports betting sector.

Greece presently considers overseas bookmakers illegal, but allows one monopoly operator, OPAP, to offer sports betting in the country.

In common with their fellow gamblers in Finland, Hungary, Norway and Turkey -- among others -- Greek punters are offered a limited range of betting opportunities with odds far lower than those available with bookmakers overseas.

The part-government-owned company OPAP offers fixed odds betting, pools and a range of numbers games through its network of outlets throughout Greece, which has the highest per-capita spend on gaming in Europe. OPAP is also one of the country’s largest advertisers.

In November 2008, Stanleybet, whose past activities in the Italian market had already led to the landmark Gambelli and Placanica legal decisions, opened betting outlets in two major cities: Athens, the capital, and Thessaloniki.

As expected, the police immediately swooped on the outlets following complaints by OPAP.

Stanleybet, as well as William Hill, had requested a license from the Greek authorities several years before. But having received no reply, they decided to open up outlets in defiance of the country’s gaming laws, which give OPAP the exclusive right to offer services until 2020.

Within days of the outlets opening, the intermediaries involved in transmitting bets to Stanleybet -- and punters making their wagers -- were arrested. Computers and materials were also seized.

However, according to recent European jurisprudence, a monopoly for gaming can only be justified in the interest of reducing spending on gaming or preventing crime.

With OPAP announcing another set of buoyant quarterly figures -- and, with them, plans to expand into other markets -- it is clear that the company can hardly be described as one helping to reduce gaming spend among the population.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament Committee on Petitions appeared to agree and accepted as admissible a petition by Stanleybet customers and intermediaries who were arrested – illegally, according to Stanleybet -- by the Greek authorities.

The committee has also asked the European Commission to conduct an investigation of the facts.

Stanleybet’s petition to the European Parliament, submitted Jan. 28, made a number of complaints against “legal, judicial and administrative measures taken by the Greek Republic to prevent the provision of betting services in Greece by bookmakers such as Stanleybet, who are legally established in EU Member States.”

The petition referred to the fact that “the European Commission’s infringement proceedings against Greek restrictions on the sports betting market has not moved since its Reasoned Opinion sent in February 2008.”

Stanleybet also noted: “Legal proceedings undertaken by the Greek authorities against Stanleybet’s Greek premises . . . are in clear violation of the EU Treaty and of ECJ case law that prohibits national authorities from arresting individuals for offering sports betting services from an EU licensed operator (Case C-338/04 Placanica et al).”

With France, Belgium, Spain and Sweden all due to abandon their monopolies in the near future, Greece may find it increasingly difficult to defend its monopoly regime.

Analysts with Morgan Stanley said in March that potential deregulation in Greece will continue to exert downward pressure on shares in OPAP.

A spokesman for the internal market commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, told IGamingNews in February that he could not provide a concrete date on when the commission would determine whether to refer its proceeding against Greece to the European Court of Justice, but said a decision was expected sometime in 2009.