OPAP

Czech-based Sazka Group has launched a bid to take full control of Greece's OPAP, Europe's fourth-largest betting firm by revenue.
Greece sold a 33 percent stake in OPAP to Emma Delta, currently owned by Sazka Group and Georgios Melissanidis, in 2013 for about 650 million euros ($729.9 million) as part of a European Union-prescribed international bailout.

Very positive messages are coming from foreign investors at the investment roadshows this week in which Greek banks and other listed companies are participating, as the interest of funds in local assets has increased.

OPAP, Europe's fourth-largest betting firm by revenue, has frozen the roll-out of video-lottery terminals in Greece until the country settles a "procedural" regulatory issue, its chief executive said on Thursday.

A 29-year-old man was in the hospital on Monday after being knifed in central Thessaloniki on Sunday night during an event in the northern city commemorating the Pontic genocide, the systematic killing of ethnic Greeks by the Turks during World War I.

The attackers are believed to belong to anti-establishment groups.

MSCI has upgraded two systemic lenders, Eurobank and National Bank, to the main index for Greece, from which they had been demoted last November after the decline in their capitalization in 2018.

The return of National Bank and Eurobank stocks from the MSCI Global Small-Cap Index to the MSCI Global Standard, which was announced late on Monday with effect from May 28, gave the Greek stock market a decent boost on Tuesday, making up for some recent losses.

Listed gaming giant OPAP is planning to propose a share capital increase to its shareholders, in order to draw up to 800 million euros, instead of distributing a dividend to its old shareholders, in the period from 2019 to 2023.

The government tabled an amendment on Monday to the concession contract for betting on horse racing for 20 years.

The amendment, which will be voted on by the House on Tuesday, includes three main changes to the contract signed by state sell-off fund TAIPED and OPAP gaming company in 2015.

Greeks gambled away more than 7.5 billion euros on games of chance from 2015 to 2018. This comes to just under 2 billion euros per year in gross gaming revenues (GGR) for suppliers after paying out winnings to the lucky punters.

With the criticism contained in the government's conduct report by the European Commission already priced in, stocks at Athinon Avenue spent most of Wednesday in the red before banks saved the day for the benchmark, helping it to close with minor gains. Turnover continued to shrink.