Greece

Greece’s gambling framework rests on Law 4002/2011 (as amended by Law 4635/2019), administered by the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC/EEEP). The 2020 licensing regime, effective 1 October 2020, allows unlimited operators to obtain 7-year online licences — Type 1 for betting (EUR 3 million) and Type 2 for casino/poker — taxed at 35% of GGR. Horse-race betting is held under a separate 20-year exclusive concession (2016-2036) granted to Horse Races S.A., a wholly owned OPAP subsidiary; note that live domestic racing at Markopoulo Park ceased in early 2024 after horse numbers collapsed, so the exclusive betting right now applies chiefly to foreign/simulcast racing.

Greece enforces aggressively through a statutory blacklist, the List of Unlicensed Gambling Providers (Blacklist), which the Hellenic Gaming Commission maintains and publishes and which includes websites that offer, conduct, manage or organize gambling activities in Greece without the required legal authorization. Prediction markets are treated as unlicensed betting: Polymarket access was prohibited under HGC Decision No. 65/8, updated 21 November 2025. The legal minimum age for betting, casino, poker and bingo is 21 (18 only for lotteries and sweepstakes).

Greek gambling law had a long and badly drafted history, but the licensing regime that opened in October 2020 brought the international brands in: 16 operators now hold online betting licences and 17 hold licences for other online games.

Betting Sites Greece

Many major betting sites abandoned the Greek market after the passage of legislation fraught with licensing difficulties and high taxes, though a number have since returned under the licensing regime launched in 2020. The gambling reforms completed in 2019 were pitched as a way to issue licenses to internet gaming companies — and this time licences actually materialised. In practice, the law seems more intent on squeezing every last bit of revenue possible from the already-struggling gambling industry.

Greece now maintains a blacklist of betting sites in Greece that are blocked by ISPs in an attempt to keep citizens from accessing unlicensed gambling websites. However, major international firms argue that they are in fact legal in Greece pursuant to local gambling laws as well as EU free trade agreements. The situation was needlessly complicated for years, but the market has since opened to licensed competition.

888 Accepts Greece Bettors

888Sport is one of the largest European brands accepting Greek punters. It is no longer a choice between one foreign brand and the state operator, though: since late 2020 the Hellenic Gaming Commission has licensed privately owned operators to compete alongside OPAP.

Both gaming websites offer more than just sports betting. In addition to sports betting, each has more than a hundred casino games, online poker and more. Both know how to help Greeks make deposits, and both support the Greek language on their websites.

Other Greek Betting Sites

Greek bettors do not need to look offshore any more. The Hellenic Gaming Commission licenses privately owned operators directly: there are currently 16 online operators holding licences for online betting and 17 holding licences for other online games, all of them taking euros and operating in Greek. The licence is the dividing line — possession of the relevant HGC licence is a mandatory prerequisite for the lawful provision of online gambling services to players in Greece, and any operator offering those services without one is considered unauthorised. Sites the Commission places on its List of Unlicensed Gambling Providers (Blacklist) are blocked by Greek internet providers, and persons and entities included on the Blacklist are not eligible to obtain a gambling licence in Greece.

Greece Gambling Laws

Greece’s first attempt to regulate betting in modern times came in 1996 when it passed legislation on sports betting. The law granted a government monopoly to the company OPAP to control all sports betting in the country through the year 2030. OPAP now operates thousands of betting terminals across the nation in addition to a website that allows for wagering on specific sports activities.

OPAP also controls the nation’s lottery and instant win games. Citizens can play the lottery and bet on sports with OPAP, and since late 2020 they can also bet online with privately owned operators licensed by the Hellenic Gaming Commission. A number of brick-and-mortar casinos also operate in the country but these mostly target tourists rather than citizens.

In 2002, lawmakers in Greece committed their first flub in gambling legislation. A piece of legislation was passed in an attempt to ban online betting at internet cafes in Greece. The law included language that banned all electronic games in public places. Suddenly internet cafes were banned from even hosting games of chess and checkers online. The word "game" was interpreted literally and ended up outlawing every type of online game played in public.

The ban was eventually overturned due to it being so ambiguous that even normal video games were prohibited in public. This was just a taste of things to come…

Politicians tried once again to regulate Greek gambling sites with a bill passed in 2011. This bill was sold as a liberalization of the market that would allow online gambling operators to obtain licenses in Greece. The licensing system was also sold as a way to raise money for the indebted government.

The industry’s high hopes were shot down when the final language of the bill was revealed that year. As promised, the bill did offer a licensing mechanism for gaming companies based out of other countries. The problem was that it levied a 30% tax on gross revenues of any company seeking a license. Government-controlled OPAP was exempted from these taxes. The bill also required a 10% winnings tax to be paid by the players.

Better yet, both taxes were applied retroactively going back to January 1st, 2010. The bill also required any licensee to base its operations in Greece, use Greek banking institutions for all transactions and locate its servers within the country.

The high taxes and burdensome licensing conditions put any potential licensees at a major disadvantage. It is clear that lawmakers passed the bill with no intention of opening a free market. What’s more likely is they wanted to look like they were opening the market to competition without actually doing so.

Neither operators nor the European Union were fooled. Several operators challenged the laws in Greek courts while the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) declared the Greek gambling laws in violation of EU competition rules. Greek lawmakers promised to go back and amend the legislation, and after several false starts they did: Law No. 4635/2019 entered into force in October 2019 to amend the regulatory framework provided under Law No. 4002/2011.

In 2016, Greek lawmakers did outline a new proposal to satisfy EU demands. Sadly, the proposal was a major step back for players and operators alike, as lawmakers ultimately increased the tax rate on licensed operators from 30% to 35%.

Two years later, the government again unveiled a new set of proposed regulations to govern online betting sites. Many of the 2016 proposals remained intact, but two major changes were unveiled in 2018.

First, operators are to be subjected to a €4 million licensing fee to offer sports betting alone and an additional €1 million if they wish to offer additional forms of gaming. Second, any unlicensed betting sites who were added to the government blacklist over the past 12 months for offering their services in Greece will be considered unfit for a gaming license.

Those proposals evolved into the framework now in force: 7-year online licences issued by the Hellenic Gaming Commission since late 2020, taxed at 35% of GGR. Looking at this from the big picture point of view, it seems the Greek government is intent on establishing a high-tax, regulation-heavy environment that will stifle the online gambling market from reaching its full potential.