Law No. 4002/2011 provides for the granting of a single license to OPAP for the operation of 35.000 VLTs in the Greek territory, making the company eligible to install and operate 16,500 VLTs through its own agencies and to subcontract the remaining 18,500 machines to 4-10 third parties, through an international tender process.
Following relevant advice provided by HRADF’s financial and legal advisers, the Hellenic Republic, through its Special Committee of the Ministry of Finance, which was established for the said purpose as provided by Law No. 4002/2011, sent its proposal on the financial and legal terms and conditions of the VLT License to OPAP on the 26th of September 2011. On the 30th of September 2011 the BoD of OPAP announced its agreement to the Hellenic Republic’s proposal.
The License will have 10 years duration, starting 12 months following the issuance of the VLT’s Regulation by the Hellenic Gaming Commission and OPAP will be responsible for determining the pricing policy for the total of the 35,000 VLTs. In return, OPAP agreed to pay a total fee of € 560 million, €474 million of which was paid upon execution of the VLT Concession Agreement and € 86 million will be paid 24 months after the license is granted. Thus, a price of €16,000 per VLT machine is implied.
Following OPAP’s EGM approval of the VLT Concession Agreement on the 3rd of November 2011, the Agreement was executed the following day (4th of November 2011) and HRADF received the upfront payment of €474 million.
The VLT License agreement was subsequently notified to the EU for non-state aid clearance.