Liverpool-based bookmaker Stanleybet yesterday added Greece to the countries where it operates betting outlets - in a brazen challenge to the existence of an incumbent monopoly - provoking a predictable threat of legal action from the country’s sole betting operator OPAP.

Following a meeting in Athens in the middle of May between European Commission internal markets tzar Charlie McCreevy and Greek economic minister George Alogoskoufis, it was announced this week that a new watchdog will be set up to oversee gambling.

The Greek gaming market is highly lucrative yet highly restricted, a combination which has seen the jurisdiction become the arena for high profile disputes between the state monopoly and various online operators.

The decision by OPAP to halt its tender process and extend its contract for provision of technology in Greece with Intralot last year caused controversy and led to an unsuccessful legal challenge by GTech, one of the bidders excluded at the eleventh hour. Now the EU is getting involved and is looking at OPAP’s procurement processes at the same time as the legality of the organisation is also being challenged.

Europe’s biggest betting firm, OPAP, faces tough trading conditions and a drop in income and profitability if new Greek tax changes come into force, despite a favourable new deal that binds its agents to the company, according to analysts.

Bookmakers looking for good news from the Greek betting market have been presented with something positive from the most of unusual of sources, the Greek Football Federation.

Analysts believe substantial changes in the senior management at Greek gaming operator OPAP could prefigure a widening of the range of products that are offered by the state monopoly gambling business and drive its overseas expansion.

Greek gaming giant OPAP is looking to cash in on the government’s financial desperation by exploiting a licence to operate low stakes slot machines, but any deal will need support from their increasingly disgruntled agents.

William Hill threatens ECJ action if the Greek government rejects its application for a licence to open betting shops in Greece.

The arrests by Greek police last week of nine punters who bet online with a British bookmaker are just the latest twist in OPAP’s long campaign to have the government enforce its extraordinary monopoly.