The country is beginning to pay closer attention to gambling addiction and the problems stemming from excessive gambling, looking to intervene and curb such issues early on
The Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP) and the Health Quality Assurance Organization (ODIPY), Greece’s gambling and health watchdog, respectively, have come together and joined efforts to tackle the issues stemming from excessive gambling and gambling-related harm.
Regulators Get Serious About Tackling Gambling Addiction in Next 3 Years
Greece is one of the fastest-growing sports betting and iGaming markets in Europe, and as such, there has been a strong uptake in the number of wagers placed locally.
The EEEP and ODIPY will now seek to work as part of a three-year signed cooperation agreement that aims to strengthen prevention and treatment efforts to address gambling addiction.
Pinpointing the exact number of gambling addicts in Greece is difficult, as the data is refreshed only once every several years. A 2014 study argued that 2.4% of the population is suffering from some sort of gambling-related problem, but even these numbers need to be taken with a caveat.
Greece’s adoption of iGaming and sports betting has soared since 2014, with new rules and many more companies now available, driven by mounting consumer interest.
The regulators are keen to leverage a scientific approach in addressing the issue, arguing that prevention is a far more cost-efficient and beneficial way to deal with addiction than most other forms of intervention.
EEEP president Dimitris Dzanatos had this to say, commenting on the opportunity to bring the two regulators together and set them on a path to addressing the issue, leveraging the available scientific evidence.
Focus Should Be on Evidence-Based Approach and Early Intervention
“This partnership allows us to overcome bureaucratic barriers and implement effective, coordinated solutions,” Dzanatos said. His colleague, ODIPY CEO Christos Nestoras, was of a similar mind, hailing the partnership as a way to explore the available evidence for addressing gambling-related harm.
In the meantime, suppliers and operators have all been pushing to expand their local clout and make a difference locally. There is an industry-wide shift towards understanding gambling addiction as a phenomenon that can be prevented rather than treated, with a lot of funds now funneled into research.
