An end to OPAP monopoly?
Socrates Kokkalis, chairman of Athens-based gaming manufacturer and supplier Intralot, has presented a business plan to the Greek government that would establish a national lottery and bring new competition to a market dominated by monopolistic operator OPAP.
SBC News reports that Kokkalis’s plan calls for a lottery that is state-owned but privately operated and benefits a number of social programs in the country.
“According to industry estimates internationally, the fee for the concession of such a license may range from €100 million to €250 million (US$111 million to $278 million) for a period of 10-20 years, while the annual revenues for the state could amount to as much as €500-€600 million, including other additional side benefits,” he said.
“The winning bidder could assume any costs of eventual litigation from legal claims against the establishment of the national lottery potentially made by the private monopoly.”
According to a January report on CalvinAyre.com, all nine casinos in Greece have seen revenue declines since 2007, ranging from the casino on Corfu, where revenues have dropped almost 29 percent, to the casino in Halkidiki, which has experienced a 92.5 percent drop since the start of the recession. According to Greek media outlet Ekathimerini, only two of the OPAP-run casinos saw bumps in revenue during 2014.
