The first six months of 2018 reportedly saw licensed casinos in Greece experience cumulative year-on-year reductions in gross gaming revenues, turnover and visitor numbers.

Gross gaming revenues tumble:

According to a Sunday report from the I Kathimerini newspaper, the nation’s nine casinos saw their first-half aggregated gross gaming revenues drop by almost 3.3% year-on-year to €116.2 million ($136.1 million). This came after the sector recorded a comparable 3.8% fall in such returns for the whole of 2017.

Citing ‘reliable sources,’ I Kathimerini also reported that only the casinos in Corfu, Thrace and Thessaloniki had seen their first-half gross gaming revenues improve when compared with the same six-month period in 2017. In the case of the former pair, the newspaper detailed that this had been achieved thanks to ‘strong performance’ in the month of June.

Declines in turnover and visitor numbers:

In terms of combined first-half turnover, the newspaper reported that total wagers had dropped by 1.8% year-on-year from the €754.2 million ($883.6 million) recorded for first six months of 2017 to stand at €740 million ($866.9 million).

Finally, I Kathimerini reported that Greek casinos experienced a 2.3% decline year-on-year in first-half visitor numbers to just over 1.3 million with only the Regency Casino Mont Parnes in Athens and the venues in Corfu and Thessaloniki recording rises during the six-month period.