Greece’s Hellenic National Bioethics and Technoethics Commission has called for swift, coordinated government action to protect minors from the documented rise in harms associated with online betting, urging tighter controls on marketing, identity verification, and payment access.
The advisory body’s recommendations target adolescent problem gambling directly, addressing both the platforms through which young people access betting products and the advertising channels that drive exposure. The proposals follow growing concern in Greece about the pace at which online betting has expanded among younger demographics, a dynamic consistent with the broader market trajectory observed across Southern Europe.
Advertising Restrictions and Self-Regulation
The commission is calling for reduced advertising exposure for licensed betting applications during broadcast windows with high teenage viewership. That covers both statutory scheduling limits on radio and television and new content and frequency regulations for online advertising.
On top of direct regulatory action, the body recommends the Hellenic Gaming Commission coordinate an industry-led self-regulatory framework to reinforce advertising standards. The dual-track approach, combining binding scheduling rules with voluntary codes overseen by the regulator, reflects a pattern increasingly common in European markets where legislators and regulators have sought to move faster on advertising before comprehensive statutory reform is in place. Spain introduced tobacco-style warning labels for online gambling advertising in 2023 on a similar rationale.
Identity Verification and Payment Controls
The commission advocates integrating user verification with the Greek government’s secure identification infrastructure, a measure that would prevent minors from registering on betting platforms. Current verification procedures leave gaps that the body regards as a primary route through which underage users access licensed operators.
The Ministry of Finance is separately encouraged to restrict anonymous prepaid cards, which the commission identifies as a payment method frequently used by younger bettors to circumvent age controls. Removing that route addresses what the advisory body sees as one of the most practical vulnerabilities in the current framework, since prepaid cards allow access without any link to verified identity or a bank account.
These supply-side interventions complement demand-side tools the body supports, including school awareness programmes and parental monitoring applications that allow families to oversee and authenticate their children’s digital platform activity.
Broader Regulatory Context
The Hellenic Gaming Commission signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with health authorities in 2025, coordinating early intervention programmes, treatment pathways, and public education campaigns. The youth protection proposals from the bioethics commission sit alongside that framework and extend it into operator-facing regulatory territory.
Greece has also moved to tighten enforcement against unlicensed operators, with draft legislation proposing multi-year prison sentences and substantial fines for those running illegal gambling venues or sites. The combination of consumer-facing protections and stricter supply-side enforcement reflects a deliberate effort to channel activity into the licensed market while raising standards within it.
The Greek iGaming market reported 50% growth in 2025 as regulation tightened, a trajectory that has sharpened the urgency of these protective measures. Rapid market expansion increases both the commercial incentives for aggressive marketing and the exposure risk for vulnerable groups, including minors. Regulators across the continent are wrestling with the same tension, and seven European gambling regulators convened in Madrid in 2025 to address the cross-border dimensions of oversight that national frameworks alone cannot resolve.
Greece’s next steps depend on how quickly the government translates the commission’s recommendations into binding rules and whether the Hellenic Gaming Commission moves to formalise the self-regulatory advertising framework the body has proposed.
Source: Hellenic National Bioethics and Technoethics Commission
