Former Olympic Organizer Named Head Of Greek Gambling Monopoly

Europe has many gambling operators, but none are as big as OPAP. The company, which owns a gambling monopoly in Greece, hired a former Olympic organiser to run their company.

Yannis Spanoudakis, a former Athens Olympic organiser, has been named the Chief Executive Officer of OPAP. The company, which has almost 1,000 employees, has been operating in Greece since 2000.

The government in Greece has opposed any form of competition for OPAP in the past. While other companies have attempted to enter the market, they have largely failed. The most recent attempt was from Stanleybet, but they were shut down almost as fast as they opened up their offices in Greece.

Greece is on the list of countries that is having problems with the European Commission because of their Internet gambling laws. Online gambling is illegal in Greece, and outside companies are not permitted to accept customers from Greece.

It is a similar situation to the one that is taking place in the US. The laws in the US are vague when it comes to Internet gambling, but the country has gone after gaming companies who have accepted US customers. Most notably, PartyGaming, which is one of the largest online gaming companies in the world.

OPAP is majority owned by the Greek government, with the government holding a thirty-four percent share of OPAP. That is the reason the government has been slow to change their existing laws that allow OPAP to operate as a monopoly.

January 4, 2010
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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