Illegal gambling games have recently expanded alarmingly in Greece. According to KapaResearch’s survey in a sample of over 5,000 people conducted on behalf of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, a total of 900,000 of Greek citizens participated in illegal gaming networks in 1.7-billion-euro transactions in 2023, while 10% of these players are between 17 and 21 years old.
A large majority of players feel that they are losing out by being involved with this kind of games while they are also afraid of the consequences of their actions.
The data were presented by the Director General of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, Dimitris Papadopoulos, who also analyzed the actions taken by the Commission to limit this illegal phenomenon, which is growing impressively in the country, in the framework of a conference organized by the Hellenic Gaming Association (HGA) in collaboration with CLEON Conferences & Communications.
The event was attended by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Haris Theocharis, who pointed out that the illegal game has grown dangerously and asked the representatives of the state participating in the conference as well as the market representatives to prepare specific proposals to deal with it.
On his part, the president of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, Dimitris Tzanatos, emphasized that illegal games are favored by market conditions and he proposed to create a new body with the aim of convincing players to avoid illegal networks.
The President of HGA, Christos Panagopoulos, analyzed the social, economic and criminal consequences of players’ participation in illegal betting and asked for greater awareness from the State, as, among other things, illegality increases the phenomenon of altering results in sports.
Representing the market, Thomas Tzokas, CEO of winmasters, referred to the categories of illegal gambling, including illegal clubs, betting operators, casino websites, as well as personal data trafficking networks.
On the side of the Cyber Crime Division, it was pointed out that criminals use illegal networks to avoid being detected and also transfer large sums through cryptocurrencies and intangible wallets using all advanced technological means such as the dark internet.
