Proposal for no limit to online gaming permits
Grant Thornton recommends the full liberalization of Greece’s online gaming market.
In a study prepared especially for the Greek government, the American consultancy firm proposes unlimited operating licenses for all kinds of games as long as the provider has a Greek domain name, ot a “.gr” suffix in its web address.
Grant Thornton particularly recommends two types of permits for gambling on the web: Type A licenses would concern all providers wanting to offer betting games (including soccer, etc) and bet exchange websites, and Type B licenses would be for suppliers of all other gaming types, including those based on random number generators (RNG) such as casino-type online games.
Licensed providers would be able to operate outside Greece, in another European Union country, but would have a server based in Greece containing the details of transactions made by local punters.
The duration of every permit is proposed at seven years. For each license, the study recommends an advance payment of 500,000 euros plus an annual fee of 50,000 euros, while retaining taxation at 35 percent. This is doubtlessly a very high rate, so it is unlikely to attract a high number of applicants for licenses. The same occurred with the 24 temporary licenses, as 21 out of the 24 providers chose to exit the Greek market as a result of the high tax rate.
