After the Archaism of Early Regulation, Greece Seems to be Hitting Its Stride
Published January 29, 2019 by Lee R
A country that needs an economic boost more than any other in Europe looks to have made a quantum leap with a modernized and optimized regulation model emerging from new updates.
Greece is amending its regulations again, and it looks as if the umpteenth time is the charm.
Helena Forges On
Greece's ruling gaming body Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP) is preparing an updated list of online gambling regulation rules.
New Player Protections
A range of player protection measures are being added this time out with the EEP opening the floor to gaming industry and other interested parties for views on the new rules.
Key Omission
The games the regulations specifically cover include sports betting and table games, with the glaring omission of random number generated casino games.
Responsible Gaming
The new regulations require licensees to add responsible gaming disclaimers on all pages of their sites, while also making wager limit options available to players, with operators being required to restrict player accounts if signs of problem gambling manifest, which in turn implies a level of vigilance required of operators.
Addressing Self-Exclusion
A self-exclusion option will be available to players on a temporary or permanent basis, and operators will be required to run checks on all new customers through an integrated national self-exclusion database before approving them for play.
Ad Protections
The EEEP further offered up a set of guidelines providing justification reasons for operators to exclude players from play, and further defined its first specific policy guidelines on advertising and online gambling prohibiting licensees from “malicious or offensive graphics and sounds” with those adverts prohibited from blocking or overshadowing the gaming area.
Another key caveat is that licensees will be required to obtain permission before using images of sports stars in advertisements.
Bonus Guidelines
The EEEP also specified that unless advertised separately, bonus games are subject to the same payout requirements as any other games.
Designated bonus games will have to be clearly delineated and explained by operators to players, to define how much a player can win as well as the range of features included in the game.
Feedback Window
The proposed regulations are accompanied by a 10-day response time for industry stakeholders to respond with feedback, reaction, and recommendations, retroactive to January 16th.
The last round of feedback sought to determine the costs of licencing was launched in September.
Current Fees
The fee for an online gaming and sports betting licences was established at €5m (£4.4m/$5.7m) and individual sports betting licences €4m with operators required to pay an extra €1m to offer iGaming services and run five years.
Outlook
Greece is really laying out the guidelines, and this latest round of updates and feedback looks equipped to generate a regulation model optimally primed for the digital age and future forward.
