The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and the Remote Gambling Association (RGA)
have filed a complaint with the European Commission on Greece's controversial,
recently-adopted online gambling law, which would allow the provision of taxed
gambling services.
The complaint relates to the Greek regime's tax and non-tax barriers to market entry, which
the Associations have alleged infringe EU law.
“The new regulation, which plans to open up the market to competition,
has already been criticized by the European Commission regarding its compatibility
with EU law when Greece submitted its first draft of the legislation in June
this year. However, despite the Commission’s comments, a number of anti-competitive
and unjustified restrictions remain in the adopted law,” the Associations
said in a joint statement.
“These [restrictions] place unnecessary and unjustified economic burdens
on new operators, such as forcing them to have a permanent establishment in
Greece and limiting financial transactions to Greek banks. The law also imposes
a higher age limit for online than offline gambling with no justifiable evidence
to support that restriction.”
In addition, the EGBA and RGA, which between them represent the majority of
the largest European remote gambling operators, are particularly concerned about
the new tax regime. The regime will require licensed gambling operators currently
operating in Greece to potentially pay their taxes on any revenues earned from
Greece-based customers retroactively from January 1, 2010, until the new licences
have been awarded. The Associations argue that this provision is tantamount
to a market entry fee that will have to be paid by all of the operators which
are currently unable to be licensed in Greece.
At the same time, the Greek government has also decided to grant OPAP, the
incumbent monopoly gambling operator for offline games, an extension of its
existing licence for an additional 10 years from 2020 to 2030 in “a wholly
uncompetitive and non-transparent fashion”, the Associations say. OPAP
currently pays no gambling tax on its offline activities, whereas online operators
will be required to pay 30% of gross gambling revenue. This differentiation
in tax liabilities is subject to a separate State Aid challenge which has been
lodged with the European Commission.
Commenting, Sigrid Ligné, Secretary General of EGBA, said: “Commissioner
Barnier recently confirmed to the European Parliament that the he would fulfil
his responsibilities seriously in assessing the compliance of member states
gambling legislation with EU law. Allowing Greece to proceed with this legislation
unchallenged would represent an abject failure of those responsibilities. We
trust the Commissioner will urgently investigate our complaint against Greece
and take action accordingly against Greece as well as on several other pending
complaints.”
Clive Hawkswood, Chief Executive of the RGA, added: “We have welcomed
the opening of the Greek online gambling market as a positive step. However,
it is paramount that any new regime is conducted in a fair and transparent fashion
which follows EU rules. Where a regime is contrary to the provision of [European
law], challenges are unfortunately necessary and unavoidable. We therefore look
to the Commission, as guardian of [EU law], to enforce those provisions in relation
to gambling, as the European Parliament has recently requested.”
OFFSHORE-E-COM.COM
