Gambling in Greece has reached the point of an epidemic as the amounts of money spent on bets rise alarmingly every year, reaching €36 billion in 2023 with more expected in 2024.
The Total Gaming Revenue (TGR) reached €21.2 billion in the first half of 2024. Those numbers are based on the latest Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP) data. The year 2025 will likely mark a new record.
Greeks spent €15.34 billion on online companies, €5.019 billion on OPAP games (sports betting), €980 million in casinos, €151.6 million on lotteries, and €14.19 million on horse racing. In total, in the first half of 2024, the Greek state collected €476 million in taxes.
What is even more alarming is that a large percentage of gamblers are minors. According to official data from the EEEP, Greek teenagers are considered gambling champions in the EU.
Every year, more Greeks seem to become addicted to games of chance, whether sports betting, casinos, horse races, or lotteries. EEEP studies also show that online betting is a favorite for Greeks. This probably explains the large number of minors playing online, as you have to be 21 and over to play games of chance in OPAP betting shops. There are more than 3,000 across Greece.
In 2019 the TGR in Greece was €15.9 billion, in 2021 it went up to €22.6 billion, to reach €29 billion in 2022 and €36 billion in 2023.
Online gambling gained ground and grew during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks turned to the internet for entertainment, discovering the addictive “magic” gambling platforms offered. During the pandemic lockdown, several new platforms appeared on the web, especially in sports betting and online casinos.
In 2023, Gross Gaming Revenues (GGR) from gambling providers were €2.59 billion, i.e. increased by 10.6 percent compared to 2022. The Greek government received €893 million in taxes on games and player profits in 2023, an increase of 20.6 percent compared to 2022.
Illegal gambling in Greece
While gambling in Greece increases every year, there is also a dark side to it. A total of €1.7 billion was placed on illegal betting in 2023. Among the players on illegal networks, approximately 10 percent were minors, as the law on participation in games requires individuals to be 21 or older.
This fact was highlighted at a Hellenic Gaming Commission conference. Kapa Research study data presented reports that €1 billion was from online gambling and €700 million was “land-based” out of the €1.7 billion of illegal gambling in 2023.
In illegal games, 68.5 percent of those who played were men and 31.5 percent were women. The champions in illegal betting were people aged 25 to 54, while ages 17-24 represented 10.3 percent of the players.
Younger people, between 17 and 24 years old, bet mainly on the Internet. About 77.4 percent choose sports betting, followed by online casino games and slot machines. However, according to the survey, 900,000 Greeks, that is, almost 1 in 10, have participated in illegal gambling at least once in the past year.
Players on the illegal gambling network in Greece gambled back 47.55 percent of their winnings on average. And on average, the annual amount spent per player amounts to €1,934. Regarding how they are informed about illegal networks, 58.57 percent responded through friends and acquaintances, and 40.41 percent through social media advertisements.
Greek 16-year-olds gambling champions in EU
A four-year-long survey conducted among 16-year-old students in all member states of the EU and the Council of Europe, that is, in 32 countries, records that Greek students score first in gambling. This survey is conducted every four years and for two four-year periods. Greece has a negative lead among 16-year-old students.
According to psychiatrist and National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Professor, Dr. Meni Malliori, the Covid pandemic helped escalate the phenomenon. The easy accessibility of mobile phones and computers and the lack of control mechanisms allow teenagers to bend the rules and gamble online. There is a regulatory framework, but it is not implemented.
Furthermore, there is no control over advertising sports betting, online casinos, and lotteries. The particular market is unregulated. Greeks are bombarded with radio, television, and social media ads daily. Most gaming ads present a glamorous world where all you have to do is enter a gaming place or internet platform with very little money and emerge as part of that world.
The Greek state not only intervenes to regulate gaming advertising but passes the responsibility to the citizens instead. The “Gamble Responsibly” slogan accompanying these ads hardly deters young and old alike. Also, the fact that part of the state’s revenue from gambling and gambling advertising goes to prevention programs does not come close to solving the problem. The disquieting annual rise of the Total Gaming Revenue proves there is no prevention whatsoever and that the gaming market continues to be uncontrollable.
According to the psychiatrist, it is the responsibility of the Greek state to control gambling, arguing that gambling destroys individuals, families, and societies.
Even 14-year-olds bet on sports
Children as young as 14 years old gamble in Greece, according to Stelios Giouzepas, Clinical Social Psychologist and scientific director of the Alternative Treatment Program for Addicted Individuals, “ARGO”. A pan-Hellenic survey conducted for the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) recorded the phenomenon. It was published in 2021 and shows an upsurge of the phenomenon, especially among adolescents during the pandemic.
An excerpt from the pan-Hellenic ESPAD survey reads: “The phenomenon is worrying, as parents give the teenagers their cards to buy other things, and the teenagers use them to gamble… The most common gambling practice among teenagers is betting on football and basketball.”
The survey also notes that teenagers see their parents’ financial struggles, and are mesmerized by the glittering casino ads with the prospect of easy profit. According to the psychologist, the trap of gambling is that it does not cause immediate physical damage, like other addictions such as alcohol and drugs. However, the psychological mechanism of addiction is common and causes stress, anxiety, isolation, and communication problems.