OPAP reacts to govt decision to impose extra tax charge on lottery games

Odysseas Christoforou, general manager of Corporate Communication in OPAP, said the move was discriminatory against OPAP and noted that such a move would have serious negative consequences.
"We have timely and in detail informed the government that such a move would be counter-efficient, it would not lead to the expected fiscal revenue and would severely hit our agent network as it would lead to a reduction of gaming in the country. Such a decline in activity will negatively affect state revenues," Christoforou said, adding that "beyond the financial consequences of imposing such a measure, legal issues were also raised, among them a discriminatory treatment against our company and our network of agents".
He said that OPAP has submitted specific recommendations to the government aimed to boost public revenues through combating illegal gaming in the country, which was estimated at around 6.0 billion euros.