The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) has confirmed to all legal entities and relevant parties that it has commenced with accepting submissions to register key personnel, suppliers and services for its licensing procedure.
Expansion of the licensing process comes off the back of the approval by the European Commission over requests of the Greek Ministry of Finance at the start of the year.
Despite changes, the HGC has underlined that it will maintain a distinction between B2C licences for online sportsbook and games of chance.
As part of its regulatory overhaul, the HGC has been instructed to expand licensing requirements to cover key operational and management remits.
The HGC maintained that its new licensing regime will apply a €3 million licence for sportsbooks, while games of chance will be covered by a €2 million fee – with each licence valid for a seven-year period.
Closing March trading, the Greek government terminated its ’transitional window’ which had been in place since 2011 as a ‘legal measure’ to allow 24 operators to continue servicing Greece’s online gambling marketplace under a ‘temporary status’.
All existing Greek operators have confirmed that they have submitted applications to HGC to continue operating within the country – taxed at a 35% gross gaming revenue rate on top of further corporation charges.
The HGC added that unlicensed operators deemed to have targeted Greece illegally will not be allowed to apply for licensing prior to a 12 month period following the market relaunch.
Entities applying for Greek B2C licences must fulfil ‘suitability licensing’ disclosures in relation to their shareholders, management, manufacturers, technicians and certification bodies.
