OPAP, the Greek gambling monopoly, recently sued the Hellenic Gaming Commission over new restrictions on video lottery terminals regarding the amount of time players can spend at the machines, loss limits and smaller jackpots. Company officials said the government’s surprise announcement stopped its plans to install the first phase of 16,500 new machines.
Filed in the London Court of International Arbitration, the lawsuit seeks more than $1.06 billion in damages. In court filings, OPAP said the government’s “abrupt and counterproductive interventions” in their business gave them no choice but to “pursue multiple appropriate legal actions.” OPAP officials said the new lottery industry regulations violate the 2000 concession contract for operating 35,000 VLTs and harm shareholders’ and agents’ rights regarding internet betting. The new rules also would impose a tax of 50 cents per bet.
Partially owned by IGT through its merger\acquisition by GTECH, OPAP also said it will shut down all 4,500 of its betting facilities for 24 hours to protest the new 5 Euro-cent tax on gambling that will take effect January 1.
OPAP officials also recently announced although the company posted third-quarter losses, year-to-date results indicated growth across all measures.
Kamil Ziegler, OPAP chairman and chief executive, said, “Q3 2015 was marked by unprecedented conditions in a tough domestic macro-economic environment.” Third-quarter gross gaming revenue fell 12.9 percent from $367.06 million to $319.1 million compared to the same period in 2014. Quarterly wagers fell by 15.7 percent to $956.75 million, but payout decreased from 67.7 percent last year to 66.6 percent this year. EBITDA dropped 7.6 percent year-on-year to $92.51 million and net profit also declined by 8.5 percent to $52.15 million. Earnings per share in the quarter came in at $0.16, a drop of 8.4 percent compared to last year.
However, compared to 2014, gross gaming revenue for nine months through September 30 were up 3.8 percent at $10.60 million and wagers rose 2.7 percent to $3.29 billion. Payout stayed about the same 67.4 percent, while EBITDA increased 14.4 percent year-on-year to $290.48 million and net profit rose 33.7 percent to $168.98 million. In the same period earnings per share increased 33.7 percent to $0.53.
