Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis has warned social media influencers that promoting unlicensed gambling will be punished, with 18 online personalities and a combined 3.6 million followers under investigation.
The 18 were the subject of criminal complaints filed in June by the Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP), which accused the influencers and streamers of advertising illegal betting platforms. None of them has been publicly named.
Pierrakakis said the rules apply regardless of where a gambling site is hosted or which social network carries the promotion.
“The message in every direction must be one: the internet is not a jungle. Popularity does not grant immunity, and influence carries responsibility,” said Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Minister of National Economy and Finance.
Fines for influencers and third parties
Under the gambling law Greece passed in June, an online persona convicted of promoting unlicensed gambling faces a fine of €5,000 to €50,000 per violation, according to the Finance Ministry.
Internet service providers, advertisers and other third parties that facilitate illegal gambling face fines of €1,000 to €2 million per violation. The bill first tabled in March set fines of up to €800,000.
The law classifies illegal gambling as both a criminal and an economic threat, a framework the government describes as the first of its kind in Europe. It also expanded the oversight powers of the EEEP.
The text also covers people who bet on unlicensed platforms on behalf of others. Greek media reporting on the bill said these intermediaries face up to two years in prison and a minimum fine of €5,000, rising to €10,000 for repeat offences.
The same law changed the tax on player winnings from online poker and live casino. Winnings of up to €500 are now taxed at 20%, up from 15%, and winnings above €500 at 30%, up from 20%, with a €100 tax-free allowance per session.
A €1.8 billion black market
Government estimates put wagers on the Greek black market at €1.8 billion in 2025, with around 900,000 Greek players using unlicensed sites.
Both numbers are higher than the ones published with the ministry’s action plan in August 2025, which put 2024 illegal turnover at €1.7 billion and the number of players at 799,000. Greek media reporting on the June complaints put the state’s lost tax revenue at around €400 million a year.
Authorities have blocked 15,000 websites so far. In July, Greece also approved DNS blocking of illegal gambling sites, giving the EEEP another route to cut access to unlicensed operators.
For licensed operators, the black market is a direct competitor for the same customers. Every euro wagered offshore pays no Greek tax and sits outside the country’s player protection rules, including age checks and self-exclusion.
Minors in the audience
When the EEEP filed its complaints in June, it said a large share of the influencers’ combined audience was made up of minors. The five largest accounts had between 337,000 and 623,000 followers each.
The government has also pointed to Greece’s position among the EU countries with the highest gambling prevalence among teenagers. Unlicensed sites carry a specific risk here: they are not bound by the age verification that licensed Greek operators must apply.
What happens next
Fines on influencers under the new law apply only on conviction, so the 18 cases now have to go through the Greek courts. Their outcome will be the first test of the June law’s penalties for individual promoters.
The larger financial exposure sits with intermediaries. An ISP or advertiser that keeps serving illegal gambling content now risks up to €2 million per violation, and the EEEP has DNS blocking powers to act against the sites they carry.
Source: Hellenic Ministry of National Economy and Finance
