Greece’s gambling regulator has filed criminal complaints against 18 influencers and streamers accused of promoting illegal gambling platforms, as authorities intensify their crackdown on unlicensed online betting.

The move was announced by Antonis Bartholomew, head of the Hellenic Gaming Commission, known in Greece as EEEP, during the 4th Greek Online Gaming Day. Speaking at the event, he said one of the major challenges facing the authority is the promotion of unauthorised gambling providers by influencers and online streamers.

According to Bartholomew, the regulator has documented 18 separate cases and, a few days ago, submitted a criminal complaint so that those involved can be brought before justice.

The scale of the audience involved is significant. The first five influencers named in the complaints had 623,000, 456,000, 435,000, 422,000 and 337,000 followers respectively, bringing the combined reach of those five accounts alone to more than 3 million followers.

Bartholomew also warned that many of those exposed to these promotions were minors, raising concerns about the way illegal gambling platforms are being marketed through social media.

The announcement comes as Greece seeks to tighten controls on illegal online gambling. According to figures presented by Bartholomew, around 900,000 people in Greece – approximately 10.5% of the population – took part in illegal gambling in 2025. The estimated turnover of the illegal market is put at €2 billion, while lost state revenue is calculated at around €400 million.

New rules for legal and illegal gambling

A Finance Ministry bill passed on Wednesday introduces a stricter regulatory framework for the gambling sector, with tougher identification requirements designed to protect players who participate in legal betting.

For legal online gambling, the bill also changes the way winnings from “other online games” are taxed. Online poker and live casino games will no longer be taxed in the same way as video lottery terminals, known as VLTs.

Under the new rules, winnings credited to a player’s online account will be taxed separately for each gaming session, after a tax-free allowance of €100. The tax rate will rise to 20%, from 15%, for winnings up to €500, and to 30%, from 20%, for winnings of €500.01 and above.

The most significant change, however, concerns the monitoring of illegal betting online. The blacklist of unlicensed providers will be expanded beyond banned domain names, IP addresses and specific websites to include mobile applications that provide access to illegal gambling services.

This reflects a broader shift in illegal gambling activity, much of which has moved from websites to mobile apps.

A tighter net around the illegal gambling chain

The government is seeking to build a more comprehensive enforcement framework around every part of the illegal gambling ecosystem.

The new rules target not only unlicensed gambling providers and websites that repeatedly change names to avoid blacklisting, but also those who promote them, those who provide access to them and internet service providers that fail to block them.

This includes influencers, affiliate marketers, website operators, internet cafés and any other intermediary that helps direct players towards unlicensed betting or casino platforms.

For players themselves, the bill introduces new restrictions. From the moment the law is published, expected in late June or early July, credit institutions and payment providers operating in Greece will be prohibited from processing payments linked to illegal gambling. This applies both to stakes and winnings connected to unlicensed online gambling operators.

The same restriction will apply to electronic money institutions legally established in Greece or operating in the country through cross-border services.

The bill also introduces penalties for so-called “proxy” players. Anyone who participates in gambling through another individual or legal entity acting on their behalf will face imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of at least €5,000. The same penalties will apply to the intermediary. In repeat cases, the minimum fine will double to €10,000.

This means that providing a player card or gambling access to someone who is not legally eligible to play will also be punishable.

Penalties for promoters and intermediaries

A second major part of the crackdown concerns grey-market advertising and those who promote illegal platforms.

Under Article 66 of the bill, anyone who promotes, advertises or facilitates the organisation and conduct of games of chance by unlicensed operators will face fines ranging from €5,000 to €50,000 per confirmed violation.

The provision opens the way for checks on influencers, social media accounts, websites, blogs, affiliate links, mobile apps and any other promotional channel that directs players to unlicensed betting or casino sites.

In practical terms, anyone who has promoted illegal gambling through a story, a link, a promo code or a supposedly informative article will no longer be able to claim they were merely acting as an intermediary.

The new framework also makes illegal gambling companies accountable for their advertising practices, not only for the operation of the games themselves. This changes the focus of enforcement, allowing authorities to target the wider recruitment network that brings players into illegal platforms through social media, search engines, small websites and affiliate networks.

The same article also provides for administrative penalties against internet service providers that fail to comply with blocking orders. If a provider does not block access to illegal gambling platforms, it will face a fine, with the amount to be determined by the relevant gambling regulation.