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The Greek news medium Kathimerini reported this week that Greek gamblers are spending over Euro 8.5 billion a year on their passion for gambling. The item adds that increasing amounts are being spent on online casinos, lotteries and other forms of illegal online gambling.
It is expected that Euro 3 billion will be spent in all of the country's nine casinos in 2007 while annual turnover booked by OPAP, one of the largest companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, is hovering around the Euro 3.5 billion mark. Experts said that a combination of slick marketing campaigns and a shift in community values has fueled the Greek demand for gambling.
Illegal betting on the Internet has been winning more fans as it offers better returns than OPAP and offers the player the opportunity of gambling on more than only one sports match and so helps to boost their chances of winning. A senior police source said, “The number of those who play illegal games is less than those who play the legal games, but they bet much larger amounts.”
A large number of betting agency owners are also allegedly helping support the increase in illegal electronic gambling by accepting debts from their trustworthy customers and then processing the bet themselves for a commission of up to 4 percent. “One in 10 betting agency owners does this,” the police source added.
During the festive season the number of visitors heading to casinos is expected to almost double. The latest data shows that the Loutraki casino, west of Athens, is visited by about 3,000 people daily but the figure soars to around 5,000 at Christmas time. Punters turning to illegal electronic gambling spend almost Euro 1.5 billion per year on their pastime.
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