Payment to participate and pay-outs must be made by credit institutions, payment institutions or electronic money institutions established in Greece or another member state of the EU or EEA. Payment by cryptocurrency is prohibited and HGC has previously blacklisted websites permitting payment by cryptocurrency. Credit betting is also forbidden in relation to slot machines. Cryptoassets are not among the permitted deposit and withdrawal methods listed in Article 25.3 of Ministerial Decision 79835/2020. The active Hellenic AML Authority investigation centres on cash deposits via affiliate retailers credited to player accounts, directly implicating deposit-channel and funding-method integrity as live enforcement priorities. This affiliate-retailer cash-deposit vector is the primary payments risk identified recently: operators maintaining retail distribution networks or affiliate-retailer deposit arrangements must ensure these channels are subject to full KYC and transaction-monitoring controls equivalent to direct player deposits. The draft EEEP reform bill's facilitation-sanction regime — administrative financial sanctions of EUR 1,000 to EUR 2m per violation for ISPs, advertisers and third parties facilitating illegal gambling — can reach payment-adjacent intermediaries handling illegal gambling flows, extending the enforcement perimeter to payment processors and financial intermediaries. No standalone payments instrument or cross-border capital control specific to gambling has been identified beyond the AML scrutiny and facilitation-liability provisions. Greece operates within the EU single market payments framework, and no gambling-specific payment blocking regime analogous to those of prohibition jurisdictions has been identified. Permitted withdrawal methods and withdrawal timeline obligations are not covered here; operators should verify current EEEP technical standards for withdrawal processing.
Greece · Question 06 of 11
Payments and banking: Can we move player money?
Mixed · Probable · Expert approved · 2 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope · Back to full Greece report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Greece (GR) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | HGC |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Probable |
| Review status | Expert approved · 2 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Payment to participate and pay-outs must be made by credit institutions, payment institutions or electronic money institutions established in Greece or another member state of the EU or EEA. Payment by cryptocurrency is prohibited and HGC has previously blacklisted websites permitting payment by cr…
The draft omnibus bill proposes granting EEEP the power to compel banks to block transactions linked to unlicensed gambling operators. This would introduce a bank-level enforcement mechanism into the payments environment, targeting the unlicensed segment specifically rather than altering payment arrangements available to licensed operators. The provision remains unenacted as of this cycle, carried at Probable confidence, with no Tier-1 confirmation of passage into force.
The pending New Gambling Framework bill would require banks to block transactions linked to unlicensed gambling operators, extending enforcement directly into the payments rail. This is a confirmed, Tier-2 sourced provision, though it carries fragile durability pending the bill's parliamentary enactment. If passed as reported, this would materially narrow unlicensed operators' access to Greek banking infrastructure, reinforcing the DNS-blocking and platform-takedown measures being advanced under the same legislative package. No change to existing permitted payment methods for licensed operators was evidenced this cycle.