OPAP ready for legal action against Athens
Greece’s biggest betting company OPAP is prepared to take legal action against the Greek state this month unless there are changes to rules that have delayed the launch of its video lottery business, the company’s biggest shareholder said.
Czech businessman Jiri Smejc told Reuters he believed that the Greek government’s need to boost revenues would soon lead to changes to the rules that he said currently made the video lottery business unprofitable.
“We believe it is just a matter of time,” Smejc said in an interview in Prague on Monday.
“They badly need the revenue.”
“We have discussed with the government that in these upcoming weeks, if it will not be solved, we will need to file some lawsuit,” he said.
Smejc’s investment group Emma Capital teamed up with Czech and Greek partners to buy a 33 percent controlling stake in OPAP for 622 million euros in 2013, marking Greece’s first major privatization under its international bailout terms.
The Emma Delta fund, owned by Smejc, another Czech investor KKCG and Greek businessman Giorgos Melissanidis, owns 33 percent in OPAP.
OPAP had planned to start rolling out its new video lottery terminals early this year, but in June this was put on hold when Greece imposed tougher rules, including lower jackpot levels, daily loss limits and curbs on the length of play time allowed.
Smejc said OPAP paid 560 million euros to operate the terminals and had already built the first 50 gaming halls.
If the company did take legal action it would seek to claim that back plus lost revenue, he said.
“We have clear promises they will change [the regulation] but still nothing has happened,” he said.
“That is why we froze the project, because for us it does not make sense economically now to do it.”
Without the video lottery business, Smejc estimated the Greek government could lose out on up to 300 million euros in tax income in 2016.
[Reuters]
