Greek gambling group seeks high court intervention on new gambling levy

The Greek betting firm OPAP has filed a petition with the Council of State seeking to annul and suspend a new tax on its games, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Greece’s Finance Ministry announced a decision last year to levy a tax of Euro 0.05 per column on all of OPAP’s games in order help raise about Euro 300 million a year in revenue for the cash strapped government.

The new levy, which is transferred to the punters and collected by the state, is unconstitutional, against the European Convention on Human Rights, and contrary to European and Greek law, OPAP argues.

The gambling group also claims that it is technically impossible to adjust the software of its electronic machines to calculate and collect the new tax, and additionally warned that it may have to suspend some of the games, which will result in “irreparable economic losses.”

Related and similar