European Union law has generally been ignored by many countries in various circumstances and especially in matters related to 카지노사이트 gambling. The various countries have either completely banned the activity or allowed monopolies to exist.
This year, however, several countries have started to take steps to comply with EU law regarding the freedom to provide services (gambling is a special case). Greece became the latest to do so.
Greek lawmakers announced on December 22 that online gambling would be regulated at the start of 2011.
Greece will not stop at online games. The Greek parliament is also planning to lift the ban on low-stakes slot machines. Slot machines had been banned since 2002, but OPAP, which had a monopoly on betting, was exempt from the ban. This led to hefty fines from the Commission for breaching EU law.
But while Greece is opening its market, other countries are trying to close theirs. Portugal recently won the right to enact a ban on gambling on the grounds that the measure was necessary to tackle infringement. Similarly, Cyprus has asked the European Commission to issue a similar decision, but this will not happen before March 2011.
The United States, meanwhile, remains the largest online gambling market in the world, despite the US government’s attempt to ban them. In the United States, there are millions of poker players on the Internet. Conservatives favor keeping the ban in place, while many liberals fight for the current laws to change.
Similar to the French system, Greece will set up a Gaming Supervisory Commission, which will be responsible for regulating the industry. Partly the reason the ban is being lifted is tax revenue which could be $1.3 billion over the next three years. Sports betting is not included in the new legislation and currently, OPAP holds the monopoly in this area, benefiting from an agreement in force until 2020.