OPAP
Encyclopedia
OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. is a public company
based in Athens
, Greece that exclusively operates
and manages numerical lottery
and sports betting
games in Greece.
OPAP is Europe's biggest betting firm.
; OPAP International Ltd, and OPAP Services S.A .
, a Europe
an gambling
company. Stanleybet had recently opened two offices in Greece and was to be a major competitor to OPAP. The government acted on OPAP's public complaints and raided Stanleybet offices on November 7, 2008, confiscating their assets.
One of the complaints expressed by protests during the 2008 Greek riots was the government's fast action in acting on behalf of OPAP to remove competition, whereas for issues affecting public safety or the rights of the people the government has been popularly thought to be slow-acting.
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
based in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece that exclusively operates
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
and manages numerical lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
and sports betting
Sports betting
Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.-United States of America:Aside from simple wagers such as betting a friend that one's favorite baseball team will win its division or buying a football "square" for the Super Bowl, sports betting is...
games in Greece.
OPAP is Europe's biggest betting firm.
History
- OPAP was founded in 1958 in Greece as a state-owned company .
- On 21 September 1999 it was transformed into a joint stock companyJoint stock companyA joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
.
- On 25 April 2001 the company's shares were listed on the Athens Stock ExchangeAthens Stock ExchangeThe Athens Stock Exchange or ASE or ATHEX is a stock exchange located in Athens, Greece.-History:The Athens Stock Exchange started trading in 1876. The Athens Stock Exchange is a subsidiary of Hellenic Exchanges S.A., whose shares are listed in ATHEX...
.
- As of 11 June 2008, the Greek state owned 34.4% of the company .
Games
OPAP runs the following games :- Numerical lottery games:
- Lotto (1990–present) (Reorganised in 1997)
- Proto (1992–present)
- Joker (1997–present)
- Extra5 (2002–present)
- Super3 (2002–present)
- Kino (2003–present)
- Sports betting games:
- Propo (1959–present) (Reorganised in 1997 and 2006)
- PropoGoal (1996–present)
- Pame Stoixima (2000–present)
Subsidiaries
OPAP has four subsidiaries: OPAP Cyprus Ltd and OPAP Glory Ltd, that operate lottery agencies in CyprusCyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
; OPAP International Ltd, and OPAP Services S.A .
Sponsorships
OPAP is the major sponsor of the Hellenic Football Federation for 2010 up to 2012 and will give 11.000.000 euro to the HFF plus 500.000 euro to the Greek national football team after its qualification to the 2010 world cup.Criticism
- OPAP is criticized by its greek agents for not having equal commissions at the Pame Stihima game. Greece based agents only receive a 8% commission while Cyprus based agents receive a 10% commission.
- OPAP has also reformed agencies(through OPAP Services) at Cyprus with a new corporate look but agencies at Greece have not been reformed and do not have the new corporate look even though the required money for the reform exist as they have already been kept by the company from the agents through commission deduction for some years.
- In the september 2009 contract that agents signed with OPAP at appendix IV, the 8th paragraph states that 35% of the cost for the OPAP VPN DSL line supplied by OTEOTEHellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. , usually known by its Greek initials OTE, is the dominant telecommunications provider in Greece. Formerly a state-owned monopoly, OTE was part-privatized in 1998 and is now listed on the Athens and New York Stock Exchanges...
will be paid by OPAP. Until the agents strike at the 2010 Champions League final no further information was given about that obligation. After the strike agents signed papers so that OPAP can communicates directly with OTE on their behalf and check the specific charges that correspond to 35%. Almost a year later, no agent has yet received the 35% and they continue to pay the whole cost of the line even though OPAP has been granted the access to directly contact OTE for the charges.http://www.opap.gr/files/09-09-28%20Simvasi%20OPAP-Praktora.pdf
Controversy
VPN DSL line contract has not been dislosed to the agents even though the agents are charged for the whole line cost.Involvement in Stanleybet shutdown
In November 2008, the government of Greece shut down the Greek operations of Liverpool-based Stanleybet InternationalStanleybet International
Stanleybet International is a private company based in Liverpool, UK that operates and manages sports betting shops in Cyprus, Germany and Italy, as well as locally-licensed outlets in Belgium, Croatia, Poland and Romania...
, a Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
company. Stanleybet had recently opened two offices in Greece and was to be a major competitor to OPAP. The government acted on OPAP's public complaints and raided Stanleybet offices on November 7, 2008, confiscating their assets.
One of the complaints expressed by protests during the 2008 Greek riots was the government's fast action in acting on behalf of OPAP to remove competition, whereas for issues affecting public safety or the rights of the people the government has been popularly thought to be slow-acting.