Greece stands by higher tax on online casino winnings as revenues rise 27.3%

Greece’s Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis is holding the line on the July tax increase for online casino winnings, framing it as a way to “grow revenues for public services.” For PSPs and operators in regulated gambling, the important bit is not the politics — it is that Athens is pairing the tax hike with tighter enforcement against the black market.

1. Figures published in October show that taxes withheld from gambling winnings reached €369m (£307m) between January and August 2026, up 27.3% from €290m in the same period a year earlier. Over the same stretch, total GGR rose 4.2% to €2.06bn, while state participation receipts from operators increased 7.9% to €484.5m.
2. The player tax increase took effect on 1 July. The rate on online casino winnings of €100–500 moved from 15% to 20%, while winnings above €500 went from 20% to 30%. Winnings up to €100 remain exempt. The published figures cover the wider gambling market and do not isolate the effect of the July change.
3. Pierrakakis first announced the policy on 23 March, saying online casino winnings were another revenue source to help fund support for households and businesses facing rising energy costs. According to the Finance Ministry’s official transcript, he said: “This intervention will increase public revenue by about €100m a year.”
4. Deputy Finance Minister Thanos Petralias defended the measure by pointing to the rapid growth of online casino and poker. He said the sector could become a permanent revenue source for the state budget and future government measures, and argued that a bigger public share of market growth was socially fair because the proceeds go back to citizens.
5. On the black market question, Petralias said revenue forecasts already took demand elasticity into account and that operator data had been analysed. He also pointed to accompanying legislation against illegal gambling. The tax changes apply to online casino-type games, including slots and poker; sports betting and other OPAP products remain under separate tax arrangements.

The tax changes sit inside a broader push to strengthen the Hellenic Gaming Commission’s (EEEP) enforcement capacity. In October, the regulator launched a recruitment drive for 40 staff on secondments, including seven IT specialists, which tells you where the pressure point is: not just tax collection, but keeping players inside the regulated market.