Greece toughens the fight against illegal gambling: Fines up to 2 million euros

Greece presents for public discussion a bill against illegal gambling: fines, blocking of sites and criminal sanctions are noticeably tightened.

New bill from the Greek Ministry of National Economy and Financesubmitted for public discussion before June 15, 2026provides for serious tightening rules on the gambling market. The authorities promise to strengthen the fight against illegal gambling, expand the powers of the regulator and introduce more severe fines for both organizers and those who help promote illegal gambling sites.

This is a big bill. Ministry of National Economy and Finance of Greecewhich includes pension, tax, energy, debt and other provisions, as well as a separate block on gambling regulation. The document is posted for public discussion on the portal opengov.grwhere proposals are accepted until June 15, 2026, 09:00.

Regarding gambling, the bill is declared as a comprehensive legislative measure for preventing, detecting and suppressing illegal gambling. In other words, the state finally recognizes that the market for illegal betting and online casinos has long lived not in a basement with a dim light bulb, but on the Internet, advertising, streams, affiliate networks and completely modern promotion schemes.

What’s changing

The main beneficiary of the new regime is Gambling Supervision and Control Commission (Ε.Ε.Ε.Π.). Its role and powers are strengthened: the regulator will be able to achieve faster removal of illegal online content, identify associated accounts and sites, as well as expand control over the digital infrastructure of illegal gambling.

The bill provides for the drafting and updating blacklist unlicensed gambling providers, blocking access to such sites and controlling domain names. Ε.Ε.Ε.Π. already maintains a corresponding list of illegal operators, and the new norms should make this tool more efficient and stringent.

Also intensifying Gambling Inspector Corps. Its members are given the powers of special investigative officers to investigate criminal offenses related to the gambling market. This is an important change: control turns not just into an administrative check, but into a full-fledged tool for prosecuting illegal schemes.

For establishments where illegal gambling is carried out, immediate closure is provided for up to one yearas well as deprivation of a license to operate by municipalities. That is, we are talking not only about a fine, which one can try to “digest” as the cost of a business, but about an actual blow to the very ability to continue operating.

Fines: from 1,000 to 2 million euros

The bill introduces a wide range of administrative sanctions. Violations may result in fines from 1 000 to 2,000,000 euros for each violation or for each slot machine, depending on the severity and repeatability of the violation.

Additionally, temporary suspension of the license is possible for up to three months or its final revocable sanction. For the legal market, this is a signal: a formal license should no longer be a cover for dirty practices. For the illegal, a warning that fines are becoming not symbolic, but potentially destructive.

A separate block concerns advertising. Those who promote illegal gambling through online channels – influencers, streamers, digital ad networks, affiliates and advertisers – may receive a fine from 5,000 to 50,000 euros for every violation. And this is where the fun begins: a market that has been hiding behind “affiliate links” and “entertainment content” for years may suddenly find out that advertising an illegal casino is not blogger creativity, but a legal risk.

Criminal sanctions

For illegal non-gambling games, punishment is provided in the form of imprisonment for a period of at least three years and a fine from 10,000 to 500,000 euros.

For illegal gambling hard labor sanction for a period of no less ten years and a fine from 50,000 to 700,000 euros. If illegal gambling is organized professionally, on a commercial scale, with the participation of underage players, or in an establishment that has resumed operations after breaking the seal, the fine can range from 100,000 to 800,000 eurosand the term of imprisonment also starts from ten years.

For organizing gambling without the necessary permits or certifications, a minimum of imprisonment is established. one year and a monetary fine. If we are talking specifically about gambling, the minimum term increases to two years.

Punishment is also provided for participants. Anyone who plays a game of chance organized without a license can receive up to two years imprisonment and a fine. In case of repeated violation, the fine increases to a range from 5,000 to 20,000 euros. That is, the state makes it clear: illegal gambling is a risk not only for the organizer, but also for the player. A wonderful moment when “just stopping by to try” suddenly turns into a legal adventure.

Internet, bloggers and illegal casinos

The digital part of the bill is of particular importance. Illegal excitement has long gone from classic underground clubs to websites, applications, streaming platforms, Telegram channels, affiliate links and advertising integrations. Therefore, empowerment Ε.Ε.Ε.Π. to remove content and identify related accounts does not look like cosmetics, but an attempt to catch up with the real structure of the market.

But the effectiveness of these measures will depend on implementation. Blocking a site today is half the battle. Tomorrow it may appear under a different domain, through a mirror, through a foreign advertising network, or through a blogger who pretends to only be “sharing personal experience.” The Internet, as we know, does not really respect administrative boundaries. He generally respects little except traffic and money.

Tax on winnings is also increasing

The bill also would increase taxation on player winnings from online casino gambling. This is a separate but important element: the state is simultaneously intensifying the fight against the illegal sector and trying to increase the fiscal return from legal online gambling.

This approach is understandable: if players and money remain in a regulated field, the state receives taxes, the regulator receives control, and the players receive at least formal protection. If the market goes into a gray zone, everyone loses, except those who organize this gray zone. Well, except for advertising intermediaries, who for some reason always manage to be “out of business” until the law comes with a calculator.

Editorial comment

Tightening rules against illegal gambling is long overdue. The problem is not only that the state is losing taxes. The problem is that illegal gambling attracts vulnerable people, bypasses restrictions, does not protect players and easily reaches minors through online advertising, streams and affiliate schemes.

However, harsh fines alone will not solve the problem if controls remain selective, slow and technically weak. In illegal gambling, money moves quickly, websites appear faster than press releases, and advertising chains are often designed so that anyone but the real beneficiary ends up to blame.

The state takes the right step when it includes in its area of ​​responsibility not only underground organizers, but also digital intermediaries: bloggers, streamers, affiliate networks and advertising channels. But then the most difficult thing begins – to prove that the law will apply not only to minor violators, but to the entire chain of money. Otherwise, you will get the usual Greek picture: high-profile sanctions on paper, several demonstrative cases and a market that a month later has already moved to a new domain.

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