Home / Poker News December 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – Will Hill Pulls Out of Greece
The Poker Grapevine – Will Hill Pulls Out of Greece
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Thu, 2012-12-06 09:50
William Hill’s online poker operation has been struggling for a while and it now looks like a couple of days ago it was dealt yet another blow: the company has announced that it has withdrawn from the Greece market, with immediate effect. They have basically discontinued all their services aimed at Greek players and that of course included
online poker too.
The trigger behind the move was an ultimatum handed down by the Hellenic Gambling Commission, in which operators have been warned to stop offering unlicensed services to the Greek public after December 6, otherwise they would be blacklisted, and various fines and penalties would be leveled at them, including possible jail sentences.
All operators can of course apply for a Greek license, but there’s a set of requirements they need to fulfill in order to qualify: they have to set up shop in Greece, use Greek bank accounts for their operations and pay back-taxes all the way to January 10. 24 companies are said to have started fulfilling the above said requirements, but William Hill are obviously not among them. According to William Hill representatives, the withdrawal is not a final one. The company may in fact elect in the future to stage a return to the Greek market.
The move is estimated to entail a £4-5 million drop in yearly revenues for the company. Betfair, one of William Hill’s competitors, have made a similar move at the end of last month too.
In other news: Jim Ryan,
bwin.party Digital Entertainment’s co-CEO has called it quits. Ryan joined PartyGaming Plc. In 2008, and he has been instrumental in securing many a strategic partnership for the company. The MGM, Boyd Gaming, Zynga and United Auburn partnerships were all of his making.
