Sports betting in Greece: the European Parliament calls for action

by Stanleybet International

Liverpool / United Kingdom / 2010-01-29 (GlobalGamingPR) - The Petitions Committee of the European Parliament urges the Commission to speed up its investigation of the Greek law which prohibits betting operators legally established in other Member States from setting up their services in Greece.

28 January 2010 – Brussels: The European Parliament Petitions Committee yesterday examined a petition by a number of Stanleybet customers and intermediaries who were illegally arrested by the Greek authorities in November 2008 for offering Stanleybet’s sports betting services in Greek dedicated and branded outlets.

Committee Members denounced the disproportionate and repressive enforcement measures imposed by the Greek authorities, to prevent the offering in Greece of sports betting services even by an operator fully licensed in other Member States, who has been denied access to the Greek market.

Sir Robert Atkins MEP (United Kingdom) called upon the Commission to “kick” the Greek competent authorities and to ensure that EU Internal market rules are fully enforced.

According to Simon Busuttil MEP (Malta), this behaviour by the Greek authorities is “a clear case of breach of EU law. What are we waiting for? Why is the Commission not doing anything?”

Roger Helmer MEP (United Kingdom) said “this inaction is not even to protect a Greek government monopoly, it is to protect a company listed in the Athens Stock Exchange. There is nothing delicate here. Let us get on and do it. Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Welcoming this decision, John Whittaker, Chief Executive of Stanleybet commented:

“The Greek authorities have not moved an inch since February 2008 when they were required by the European Commission to remove the unlawful restrictions. I very much welcome the European Parliament’s call for an end to inaction.

This situation in Greece is all the more unacceptable as the regulatory framework for sports betting is abusively based on exclusive rights granted to OPAP SA, a private for-profit Greek company listed in the Athens Stock Exchange but having 1/3 of its capital controlled by the Greek State.

Even worse, harsh and disproportionate criminal sanctions are imposed on all persons trespassing on OPAP’s monopoly, which is a blatant breach of directly applicable European law. What is the European Commission doing about this?

Unfortunately, contrary to the Commission’s statement issued in February 2009 that it would examine all pending infringement cases in the betting sector including Greece during that year, no action has been taken and violations of EU law persist. I therefore urge the new Commission to urgently act and perform its legal duty to enforce the EU Treaty”.

- ENDS -




Notes

• Stanleybet’s application for a licence to operate has been consistently rejected and the subsequent legal proceedings have been subject to continuous delay and procrastination.

• The European Commission launched an investigation into the incompatibility of the Greek actions with EU principles in January 2007 and issued a Reasoned Opinion on 28 February 2008 condemning the restrictions as being contrary to the freedom enshrined in Article 49 of the EU Treaty to provide cross border services. However, no further action has been undertaken since then.

• Relying on the established Community law, on 29 October 2008 Stanleybet intermediaries started to offer services in Athens and Thessalonica. Unfortunately, the Greek police entered the premises, seized all equipment, documents and cash and illegally arrested not only the Stanleybet intermediaries, but also a number of customers.

• Petition N° 142/2009 “Petition to the European Parliament pursuant to Article 21.1 and 194 EC in the matter of legislative, judicial and administrative measures of the Hellenic Republic in the sports betting sector".


About Stanleybet

Established in 1997, Stanleybet is licensed in the UK and other European jurisdictions. Stanleybet grew its business via a ground-breaking cross-border business model whose compatibility with European law has been endorsed in both the Gambelli (2003) and Placanica (2007) rulings from the European Court of Justice. Stanleybet is now the leading cross-border retail sports betting company in Europe with the majority of its intermediaries being in Cyprus, Germany and Italy, as well as locally-licensed outlets in Belgium, Croatia, Poland and Romania making a total of over 2,000 outlets and employing over 3,000 people in Europe.

Stanleybet has an established track record as a fair and responsible private sports betting company, fully compliant with regulatory requirements in the UK and other European jurisdictions where it operates. The company commits to protecting its customers by applying high standards of internal policy compliance guided by its core principle of transparency in all corporate operations.

Stanleybet continues to support its right to offer innovative sports betting services in the EU in a responsible and transparent manner and in line with EU regulation. The company commits itself to the protection of its customers whilst guaranteeing their right to choose the most innovative and entertaining sports betting products on the market.

Category: sports betting / Others