Greece lottery ripe for taking as Allwyn concession ends
Greece has launched an international 10-year tender for the 10-year stewardship of its domestic lottery network.
The process is managed by Growthfund, the Mediterranean country’s National Investment Fund, which handles the nationwide modernisation of state-owned assets with the goal of driving increased value.
As the Greek state lottery operator, the selected incumbent will handle the production, management, operations, promotions and exploitation of the most popular lotteries in the country.
These include the Instant State Lottery, the State Housing Lottery, the Popular Lottery, the Special Social National Lottery, the National Lottery, and all domestic draws conducted by the European Association of State Lotteries (AELLE).
All parties interested in the lucrative licence will be able to submit their application by 23 July in the first stage of the tender. The second phase will require qualifying participants to submit their binding offers.
The final agreement will be executed by the Greek Minister of National Economy and Finance.
Current Greek lotteries are handled by Hellenic Lotteries S.A., a division of OPAP – an Allwyn-owned gambling consortium and one of the largest players on the Greek market.
Specialising in lotteries, OPAP’s Q1 2025 results highlighted that the company currently has 34.7% of the revenue market in Greece, with lottery revenues standing at €207m – 5.5% up YoY (Q1 2024: €196m).
Other revenue included €190m from betting operations and €89m video lottery terminals, with total GGR for Q1 standing at €595m. OPAP’s iGaming division also saw 20% YoY growth.
However, OPAP will certainly be given a run for its money thanks to the recent acquisition of tech assets from US giant Bally’s by Intralot, another major Greek company which most likely will enter the tender.
Management has expressed ambitions to leverage the €2.7bn deal in favor of creating “a global lottery and online gaming champion” – with Intralot boosting its digital and retail competitiveness by gaining access to Bally’s international gaming portfolio across several continents.
Intralot itself has strong supply chains established across Europe, which also includes existing lottery infrastructure in its home market of Greece. Consolidating the lottery with iGaming could ensure a strong domestic position.