OPAP

OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A.
ΟΠΑΠ – Οργανισμός Προγνωστικών Αγώνων Ποδοσφαίρου Α.Ε.

Type	Anonymi Etairia
Traded as	Athex: OPAP
Industry	Gambling
Founded	1958
Headquarters	Athens, Greece
Key people	Ioannis Spanoudakis (Chairman and CEO)
Products	Lotteries, sports betting
Revenue	€5.140 billion (2010)[1]
Operating income	€871.6 million (2010)[1]
Profit	€575.8 million (2010)[1]
Total assets	€1.221 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity	€696.6 million (end 2010)[1]
Employees	1,000 (end 2010)[1]
Website	www.opap.gr

OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. (Greek: ΟΠΑΠ – Οργανισμός Προγνωστικών Αγώνων Ποδοσφαίρου Α.Ε.) 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. ^[2]

History

• OPAP was founded in 1958 in Greece as a state-owned company ^[3].

• On 21 September 1999 it was transformed into a joint stock company ^[3].

• On 25 April 2001 the company's shares were listed on the Athens Stock Exchange ^[3].

• As of 11 June 2008, the Greek state owned 34.4% of the company ^[2].

Games

OPAP runs the following games ^[3]:

• 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 Cyprus; OPAP International Ltd, and OPAP Services S.A ^[4].

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 OTE 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.[1]

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 International, a European gambling company. Stanleybet had recently opened two offices in Greece and was to be a major competitor to OPAP.^[5] The government acted on OPAP's public complaints and raided Stanleybet offices on November 7, 2008, confiscating their assets.^[6]

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.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Annual Report 2010". OPAP. http://www.opap.gr/documents/11503/180675/fs+2010+ENG+.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-27. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Greek OPAP puts off charter changes ahead of deregulation". Reuters UK. 2008-06-11. http://uk.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUKL1175764720080611. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "OPAP: History". OPAP.gr. http://www.opap.gr/pages.fds?PageID=415&langid=1. 
4. ^ "OPAP S.A. (Hellenic Org.of Football Prog)". Google Finance. http://finance.google.com/finance?q=ATH:OPAP. 
5. ^ "Tax inspectors set sights on Stanleybet". Kathimerini. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_economy_1_05/11/2008_101849. Retrieved 2008-12-08. 
6. ^ "Greek police raid Stanleybet outlet at OPAP's behest". EUbusiness. http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1226062030.81/. Retrieved 2008-12-08. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ Christofer, Kat (2008-12-08). "Athenian democracy in ruins". London: Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/08/greece. Retrieved 2008-12-08. 

External links

• Official website
• OPAP profile at Google Finance