Greece Seeks Specialist Partner as Gambling Regulator Tightens Digital Player Checks

Greece is taking another step toward tightening oversight of its online gambling industry, with the Hellenic Gambling Supervision and Control Commission opening a tender for outside legal and technical expertise to strengthen how licensed operators identify and verify their customers.

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The project forms part of a broader effort by the regulator to modernize supervision of the country’s expanding online gambling market, where concerns over financial crime, identity fraud and illegal operators have become increasingly prominent.

At the heart of the assignment is a review of the framework governing Electronic Player Accounts, the digital profiles through which customers access licensed gambling platforms. The selected contractor will help redesign the system used to verify player identities, with particular attention to stronger Know Your Customer procedures and safeguards against money laundering, fraudulent activity and underage gambling.

Tender documents indicate that the regulator wants support in reshaping both the technical and legal standards behind secure player identification. The work will also examine how licensed online gambling providers certify and authenticate customer identities before allowing access to regulated gaming services.

The consultancy contract is valued at €28,500 before VAT and will run until the end of 2026, or until 190 hours of advisory work have been completed, whichever comes first. Throughout the engagement, the successful bidder will be expected to deliver three progress reports setting out recommendations for improving Greece’s player verification regime.

Broader regulatory reforms gather pace

The procurement reflects a much wider policy shift rather than an isolated technical upgrade.

Only weeks earlier, the Greek government submitted draft legislation to Parliament that would significantly expand the authority of the gambling regulator, marking one of the most substantial overhauls of the country’s regulatory framework since online gambling licensing was introduced.

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Among the proposed changes is an increase in the regulator’s permanent workforce from 80 to 110 employees. Recruitment would focus on specialists in cybersecurity, information technology, intelligence analysis, market surveillance and enforcement, areas viewed as increasingly important in tackling sophisticated illegal gambling operations.

The legislation would also give the regulator broader enforcement tools. Those powers include the ability to seek the rapid removal of illegal gambling websites and online content, widen Greece’s blacklist of unlicensed operators and strengthen cooperation with law enforcement through an expanded Gaming Inspectors Corps equipped with formal investigative authority.

Black market remains a central target

The proposed reforms also introduce considerably tougher criminal penalties for those involved in illegal gambling. Organizers could face prison terms starting at 10 years alongside financial penalties ranging from €50,000 to €700,000. More serious cases involving organized criminal groups, repeated offences or the involvement of minors would carry even heavier sanctions, with fines reaching €800,000 and prison sentences extending beyond a decade, particularly where money laundering, fraud or tax offences are involved.

The government’s increasingly aggressive approach follows repeated warnings from Economic Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who has described the illegal gambling sector as both a criminal enterprise and a significant drain on public finances.

Official estimates suggest Greece’s black-market gambling industry now generates between €1.6 billion and €2 billion each year. Authorities believe the activity deprives the state of roughly €600 million in annual tax revenue, reinforcing the government’s push to strengthen both market supervision and enforcement against unlicensed operators.

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Source: sbcnews.co.uk