William Hill, the UK based online and land based gambling operator, and Betfair, the internet betting exchange have joined hands in order to run the Greek online gambling Monopoly. This has been reported as the two operators have applied to the Ministry of Finance of Greece as well as the gambling commission in order to run the internet gambling monopoly that is currently being operated by OPAP.

This move by the RGA (Remote Gambling Association) members aims to block the decision by the Greek govt. to exclusively give OPAP all internet gambling rights in Greece without holding any tender process.  Currently, a major stake of the monopoly is being sold off as a part of the privatisation programme of the government of Greece. Czech-Greek Emma Delta fund that is being controlled by an investor from Czech, Jiri Smejc, is planning to pay a total of 652 million Euros in order to acquire a thirty-three percent stake in the Greek OPAP.

According to the CEO of the RGA, Clive Hawkswood, the govt. of Greece is not looking forward to the future and that it is being short sighted by granting the OPAP an exclusive internet gambling monopoly without complying with the European Union treaty. He also added that the government might find itself obligated to compensate the online gambling firms who had the right to expect that they will be able to take part for the concession as well as refunding investors in OPAP.