Betfair Pulls Out Of Greek Market
Jim Makos | Nov 27, 2012 12:23AM ET
By now you must have already heard the news of Betfair (BET.L) pulling out of Greece as a result of the Greek legislation and regulations for online gambling. The Greek Gaming Commission has set 5th of December as the deadline for unlicensed gambling operators to withdraw from Greece and yesterday Betfair prompted their customers residing in Greece to trade out their holding positions prior to 3 December.
Greek players accessing their accounts from abroad won’t be affected though, since Betfair will still provide access to their accounts via non-Greek IPs. Given the impact of the recent news to the Greek gambling community, one would expect a significant movement in the Greek gambling operator’s stock, OPAP (OPAP.AT), who also has the sports betting monopoly in Greece. Yet, OPAP stock price seems unaffected in the Athens stock exchange.
Meanwhile, Betfair stock, one of the 10% tax on gambling winnings is also expected to have a negative effect in next earnings reports of OPAP, as turnover is predicted to decrease significantly.
Disclaimer: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
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