Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casino
Greece
A market that replaced a long transitional arrangement with seven-year licences in 2020.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Sports betting | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Online poker | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Lottery | State monopoly | Reserved to a state or state-controlled operator; no commercial licence is available. |
How the market works
Greece spent most of the 2010s in a transitional regime under which a group of operators continued to serve the market while permanent licensing was settled. Permanent licences arrived in 2020 in two types: Type 1 for online betting and Type 2 for other online games, each granted for seven years against a fixed fee.
Greek rules are prescriptive at product level, with constraints on individual game features and a requirement that games be certified against the national technical specification before they can be offered. Advertising is permitted but controlled through a register of what may be promoted.
Enforcement relies on blocking: the commission maintains a blacklist that internet providers must implement, and unlicensed operators are pursued through access restriction rather than only through penalties.
Who regulates it
Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC), based in Athens and operating under Law 4002/2011, as amended by Law 4635/2019. The Greek commission, which replaced a long transitional regime with seven-year licences in 2020.
Licence types issued
- Type 1 online betting licence
- Type 2 other online games licence
Questions about Greece
Other markets in Europe
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casino
Open licensing per game type
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
Licensed online casino
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casino
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casino
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.