Greek gambling revenue on the rise as regulatory overhaul advances
Land-based gambling remains dominant, but remote gambling revenue continues to grow faster.
Greece.- The Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP) has reported a moderate rise in Greek gambling revenue for 2025. According to the commission’s annual report, gross gaming revenue (GGR) reached €3.07bn, a 6.7 per cent increase compared with 2024.
Greece’s land-based gambling sector continued to be strongest, accounting for 61.2 per cent of the total at €1.88bn. However, remote gambling revenue is rising faster, climbing by 10.5 per cent. The regulator’s supervisory income stood at €23m. Public revenue from gambling via taxes, levies and licence fees rose by 11.2 per cent to €1.17bn.
Greek gambling revenue by sector
Number games such as KINO accounted for 37.8 per cent of land-based gambling revenue in Greece at €711.3m. Sports betting followed with €414.2m (22 per cent), while Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) contributed €365.9m (19.5 per cent).
Greece’s land-based casinos generated €268.6m (14.3 per cent), state lotteries €114.6m (6.1 per cent), and horse racing €6.4m, just 0.3 per cent of land-based GGR.
As for remote gambling, there were 24 licensed operators by the end of 2025, with more applicants progressing through the licensing process. Fixed-odds betting, including wagers on real and virtual events, generated 40.3 per cent of online GGR, while other products such as live casino, poker and slots accounted for the remaining 59.7 per cent.
Online betting operators were the largest contributors to public gambling revenues, generating €736.9m, 63.1 per cent of all receipts. OPAP, the national lottery operator, which saw a 16.9 per cent rise in igaming revenue, contributed contributed 27.95 per cent, casino operators with 5.2 per cent and other licensed providers with 3.72 per cent. Some €3.25m was collected from installment payments for licensing fees.
Enforcement and Player Protection
The EEEP noted that it launched the first phase of a central player registry in 2025, enabling unique identification across multiple licensed operators. Seven licence holders connected to the system during the year, laying the foundation for a unified self-exclusion framework.
The regulator processed 57 indefinite self-exclusion requests, with data showing that 84 per cent of applicants were male and 63 per cent were aged 35 or younger.
Gambling advertising expenditure reached approximately €130m, with online channels taking the largest share, followed by television. The EEEP approved 1,301 advertising and marketing plans and rejected 156.
As for enforcement against illegal gambling, the regulator issued six blacklist updates, expanding the number of blocked domains from 9,590 in 2024 to 12,642. It also received 586 whistleblower reports.
According to a statement in March, the government estimates that illegal gambling cost the state around €400m in lost revenue last year. Last month, draft legislation was passed to overhaul gambling regulations in Greece. The bill would expand the EEEP’s permanent staff from 80 to 110 to allow new hires in enforcement, IT and cybersecurity, and market surveillance and intelligence.
The regulator would also gain powers to immediately block illegal gambling sites, while the blacklist of banned operators will now cover not only websites, domains and IP addresses but also mobile applications. Meanwhile, the EEEP recently lodged criminal complaints against 18 influencers and streamers that it accuses of promoting unlicensed betting platforms in a significant escalation in the country’s crackdown on illegal online gambling promotion.
