The National Federation of Bookmakers released an interesting statistic in the last few days that states Greeks have spent over ten billion dollars gambling online last year. The funny thing is that using the internet to gamble is not exactly legal in Greece.

According to a 2002 law, all electronic games involving betting are banned, including computer games. Extremely high premium lawsuits that are designed to crack open the national monopoly have jumped in number due to the Federation’s reveal of the size of the gambling market. Greece has seen an increase that has tripled over the last few years. The total as it stands today is over twenty-three billion dollars. Statistics show that the European nation’s annual gambling turnover in 2007 was equal to approximately eight percent of its gross domestic product and larger than the market capitalization of Greek Telecom. The Greeks have gambled billions and billions of dollars since 2005. The old school brick and mortar casinos have seen an increase in population, welcoming over two hundred thousand visitors in the last few days of December and the first couple of days in January.

With internet gambling at the touch of a fingertip literally anywhere you want to be the gambling fad has become more of a gambling frenzy that occurs year round. A survey that was polled showed most people gambled online to increase their finances. Other reasons were for fun or to learn how to play without being intimidated.

Gambling on the internet was introduced back in 1998 during the World Cup in France. As the entire world became knowledgeable of this new phenomenon, online gambling increased. There are close to three hundred thousand active internet casinos, from all over the world. Bookmakers argue that the 2002 law breaches the European laws of free movement of services.
 

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