The Greek betting company OPAP revealed a massive increase in its third-quarter net profit, saying that the boost was driven by its newly-released video lottery terminals, as well as by the reversal of litigation provisions.
Currently, the operator is the fifth-largest betting company on the territory of Europe. In its latest fiscal report, OPAP revealed that its net profit over the period from July to September amounted to €48.1 million. In comparison, the net profit reported by the firm over the same period a year earlier was estimated to €29.3 million.
OPAP’s Third-Quarter Net Profit Rises by 64%
According to the company’s report, the third-quarter net profit of OPAP rose by 64%. As the Greece-based gambling firm revealed itself, its profit for the period from July to September 2017 was boosted by the reversed litigation provisions after a ruling in favour of the company made them unnecessary. OPAP, however, did not provide further details about the litigation process.
After being a state-owned gambling monopoly, OPAP was sold by the state in 2013. The company still holds the exclusive rights to organise and manage a number of lotteries and sports betting games on the territory of Greece, but since the beginning of 2017 it also rolled out a new business aimed especially at video lottery terminals.
According to the betting operator’s report, at the end of September 2017 it operated a total of 5,297 terminals. OPAP shared that the new video lottery terminals offering helped it generate an increase in its gross revenues, with the latter rising by 12% to €357.4 million over the third quarter of the current fiscal year.
As far as an outlook for the final quarter of 2017 is concerned, the company said that the number of the new video lottery terminals would further increase over the last three months of the year. OPAP explained that it targets to have a total of 10,000 terminals in its possession until the end of the year.
At the beginning of November 2016, the UK-based gaming content supplier Inspired announced a partnership agreement with the Greek lottery and betting games operator. Under the terms of the deal, Inspired delivered almost 4,000 video lottery terminals to OPAP, which were officially brought into operation in 2017.
Greek Parliament Takes Measures to Reduce VLT Number
The financial report released by the company comes at a time when the Greek Parliament just passed a law focused on the reduction of the number of video game terminals in the country. So far, the number of such gambling machines allowed in Greece was 35,000.
Under the provisions of the new piece of legislation, the number of video lottery terminals is planned to be reduced to 25,000 by the end of 2019.
The new law comes as part of the Parliament’s measures to reduce gambling-related risks and prevent local customers from being affected by possible negative effects of gambling. More efficient supervision carried out by the authorities is also needed.
In addition, OPAP had its operating license extended by eight years by the new piece of legislation.
- Author
Olivia Cole
