PokerStars: Launch in Griechenland

PokerStars is officially available on the Greek gaming market after a successful launch. This recently announced flutter entertainment by press release. The gambling group had already caught up with a valid license for the Greek market for its online poker platform six months ago. After a few bureaucratic hurdles, the poker website is now under the domain name pokerstarse.gr Online.

Stony path to launch

The path to the launch of PokerStars in Greece was long. Industry experts and flutter entertainment itself had expected media reports to enter the market earlier. the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) Had the gaming group awarded a state concession in July 2021. However, any activities on the Greek gaming market failed to materialize until the end. According to its own statements, Flutter wanted to ensure that all legal requirements are really fulfilled and all bureaucratic hurdles were really fulfilled.

Flexibility. The recent change in the law in Greece has blessed the legal framework for the national online gambling with enormous flexibility. For example, the local player community can take part in tournaments and events together with foreign players. This enables global interaction. Flutter also wanted to make use of this. The group pointed out that PokerStars, PokerStars Sports and PokerStars Casino could be played across borders on the platforms.

Entry into the Greek gaming market enables flutter to still Boys but already flourishing market to expand. The southern European country reformed its gambling law last year and equipped the industry with liberal rules of the game. The HGC acts as a control body and is responsible for the license allocation. In addition to flutter, other industry representatives have also received a concession – e.g. BGAMING and STAKELOGIC.

Market liberalization in Greece

The legal career of the gambling market in Greece can be read in many other European countries. The government in the Mediterranean state officially banned the online gambling and led a state monopoly, to have the reins in your own hands. However, a rethink followed a few years ago and a plan for the liberalization of the market was drawn up. Similar to the European neighbors, politics recognized both social and economic advantages through the legalized online gambling.

After almost ten years the dominance of the state monopoly was last year proclaim a transition phasethat made it possible for the HGC to award the first licenses to private companies from the gaming industry. On July 5, 2021, 15 online providers received a state concession.

Greece is considered an emerging and flourishing gambling market. The country is relatively small compared to the European neighbors. Almost eleven million people live in the Mediterranean state. This corresponds to about a third of the population in USA, France or Great Britain. In addition, becomes The attractiveness of the online gambling through a special tax.that all Greek residents have to pay. However, the supposedly negative aspects have No influence on the positive reputation of the Greek gaming market.

Online gambling is growing. According to the statistics of the HGC, the gross games (GGR) for the online gambling segment in 2019 amounted to around 437 million $ . The following year the sum increased to 540 million $ . Not all numbers have been collected for 2021. However, it is assumed that there has been another increase and that the industry segment will continue to grow in the future.

Flutter drives expansion plans

By entering the Greek gaming market, the next domino stone in the expansion plans of Flutter Entertainment fell. Recently the gambling group has only one External office opened in Spainto better coordinate and promote the activities in the country. Flutter has been working on the Spanish gaming market with the “Betfair” brand since 2011.

Also Flutter was active in USA. The group took over “Sisal”, a leading provider in the American industry. In addition, the assets of the US private equity company “CVC Capital” were bought for 1.9 billion $ last month.

With press release, Flutter stated that both Betfair and PokerStars will play a key role on the European continent. This applies especially to the American market. It is planned to use both brands together with Sisal to Market share of at least 20 percent to generate.

Liberalization in Europe. A large part of Flutter’s expansion plans focuses on the European continent. Until the end, many countries pursued a restrictive interpretation of the online gambling. Due to the nationwide wave of liberalization, this has changed and revealed new markets almost suddenly. Industry players such as flutter now acquire licenses for the individual states in order to be able to operate in the respective markets. The economic potential is gigantic.