Greek Gambling Monopoly Unhappy With Tax Laws, Rational Group Opens .GR Client
On Friday, iGaming Business reported that the Greek Organization of Football Prognostics (OPAP), a public company that owns a monopoly over sports betting and lotteries in Greece, cited new national tax laws as the reason for the company��s struggles.
OPAP, which was recently sold to Emma Delta, posted a third-quarter net profit of �44.4 million, which is a 61-percent decrease from 2012. The earnings were higher than analysts�� average forecast of �37.2 million.
The company says that the new 30 percent tax has had a negative impact on 2013 earnings, even though the company is up 0.7 percent in revenues when compared to 2012.
��The Q3 revenues stabilization indicates a promsing restart for the company the comes along with the recent undertaking of our duties,�� OPAP chief executive Kamil Ziegler said in a statement.
Greece has also opted to work with Rational Group, who moved its Greek players to both PokerStars.GR and FullTiltPoker.GR over the weekend. Winnings of �100 or higher will automatically be taxed by 15 percent at the end of each day. The tax rate increases to 20 percent for winning exceeding �500.
The Greek client shares the same international player pool as .com and .EU, but certain tournaments have been removed form the Greek lobby.
Photo courtesy of Casino Daily News
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
