OPAP Profits Rise

May 29 - Net profits for the Greek gambling company, OPAP, rose to 208.5 million Euros in the first quarter of 2008, it was reported this week. This indicates a 45.5% increase in net profits, with revenues climbing to 1.38 billion Euros.

As a result of the news, share prices for OPAP climbed to 26.68 Euros - an increase of 1.83%.

In a conference this week, OPAP commented on the changes being felt in the Greek gambling market due to increased pressure from the European Commission on the government to drop its monopolistic policy. While OPAP holds the market monopoly at present, it is not entitled, under Greek law to expand its retail outlets, nor is it allowed to offer online gambling services.

OPAP said that it would not be surprised if the monopoly was eventually lifted and was thus preparing itself for the day by protecting its services offline. This included entering into renegotiated contracts with its current agents that held non-compete clauses.

The company said that should the Greek government make the changes as demanded from it by the European Commission (under threat of legal action by the European Court of Justice), it would open its own retail gambling shops. While agents would then be free to leave the OPAP network, the non-compete clauses forbade them from opening up their own shops for at least one year after terminating the agreement - a move that would protect OPAP's business interests.

OPAP said that the largest revenue gains in the first quarter of this year resulted from its sports betting line, which rose to nearly 600 million Euros, or 20.5%. In addition, numerical games rose by 19.4% to 784 million Euros.