OPAP to defend its monopoly on local gaming
The reorganization of procedures, the agreement with betting agents and the rationalization of the Pame Stoichima betting game are the three top priorities for Christos Hadziemmanouil, the president and chief executive officer of gaming company OPAP. Speaking to Dow Jones, he said the above three pillars concern the moves of the OPAP administration over the next few months and the aim is for those issues to have closed by June. Plans for expansion abroad announced by the previous management of the company remain on ice and will be reviewed by the end of the year, said Hadziemmanouil. By that time the move by the European Commission against the company’s monopoly will have unfolded, he added, noting that he will defend the monopoly with all his strength. «However, if worst comes to worst and we lose the monopoly, then only some very gullible people will believe that OPAP would cease to be profit-making,» he told the international news agency. On Pame Stoichima, the OPAP head said that the undertaking of its management by the company was a huge step. OPAP will introduce new forms and new fields of betting in order to strengthen it, although these moves will not be made before the existing betting fields are rationalized. Hadziemmanouil also remarked that a crucial change in the company’s operation will be the basis of a new relationship it wants to have with its agents. OPAP has begun negotiations with the agents’ federation for the signing of a new agreement between the two sides, and talks have been progressing rapidly.
