GREECE: A new law bans all computer games in public and has the country's gaming community in an uproar

Record ID: 564612

  • Title: GREECE: A new law bans all computer games in public and has the country's gaming community in an uproar
  • Date: 1st February 2002
  • Summary: (L!1) ATHENS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 13 2002) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) GENERAL SECRETARY OF FINANCE MINISTRY GEORGE KANELLOPOULOS SAYING: "If we make exceptions then there will no longer be a law. If we start making exceptions for one machine, one game, one business, then we will have to start making exceptions for others. The only exceptions are the casinos. People can go there and gamble freely. There are some 15 in the country, they are close to peoples homes, and if someone makes a conscious decision they want to bet then they will go there. We cannot however have someone freely access an electronic game, and then next thing you know, in minutes heup losing his entire income." (L!1) THESSALONIKI, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 10 2002) (REUTERS) GV EXTERIOR OF COURTHOUSE IN THESSALONIKI MV BANNER HELD BY PROTESTERS OUTSIDE COURT CASE OF INTERNET CAFE OWNERS READING 'NO TO INTERNET CENSORSHIP' VARIOUS OF YOUNG PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS AND WEARING SHIRTS THAT SAY 'SET PC GAMES FREE' (2 SHOTS) (SOUDNBITE) (English) INTERNET CAFE OWNER CHRISTOS GEORDANINIS, FREED BY COURT AFTER GOING TO TRIAL FOR BEING ACCUSED OF VIOLATING LAW 3037 SAYING: "I am an internet cafe owner who had 28 computers seized by the Greek police just because somebody was playing chess on the Yahoo site and Microsoft Age of Empires." LA ZOOM IN: INTERNET CAFE OWNER WITH BANNER AS CLIMBING ON WHITE TOWER MONUMENT TO PROTEST AGAINST LAW 3037 MV PEOPLE STARING UP AT PROTESTER; MORE OF PROTESTOR (2 SHOTS) (L!1) ATHENS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 12,2002) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF INTERNET LAWYER ANASTASIOS PARTHENIS WORKING ON COMPUTER IN HIS OFFICE (3 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANASTASIOS PARTHENIS, INTERNET LAWYER SAYING: "They know it's a mistake. But they also know that they can't tell if a computer has been used for legal or illegal purposes." VARIOUS VIEW OF PARTHENIS PLAYING ONLINE COMPUTER PINBALL GAME ON HIS LAPTOP COMPUTER (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATHENS AND THESSALONIKI, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Crime,Technology,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA5BIW898VSHJ6UL5BF28IX3J1M
  • Story Text: Computer game buffs take care when travelling to Greece. In an effort to curb gambling, a new law in the country bans all electronic games in public and it has the country's gaming community in an uproar.
    Entering an Internet cafe in Greece these days, the first thing that catches the attention is a sign posted on the wall reading, "No web games of any kind allowed."
    The country hosting the Olympic games is a little less tolerant about another type of games --electronic, and it has internet users in an uproar.
    Internet cafe owners and web surfers are hopping mad over a new anti-gambling law that bans all electronic games, including those played on computers.
    According to law 3037 passed in July, playing any electronic game in a public place is illegal, including computer and online games on the internet if it is possible they can be used for gambling.
    Internet cafe owners now face fines between 5,000-75,000 euros and one to 12 months in jail for violating the law.
    The law came into force after rampant illegal gambling was discovered in video arcades and bars earlier this year, with owners converting electronic games into betting machines.
    It took full swing when a local channel secretly filmed a Socialist member of parliament gambling on an electronic game.
    Officials started confiscating machines and closing down businesses.
    Gambling is permitted only in licensed casinos, which are highly popular with Greeks. About 15 are scattered around the country.
    Police have now begun raiding and shutting down Internet cafes suspected of violating the law.
    The move caused a mass outcry by internet cafe owners and web gamers, with websites posting protests and petitions against the law. One site, www.gameland.gr gathered more than 27,000 signatures against the law.
    "This is ridiculous and unconstitutional," said Internet Cafe owner George Kolios. "We are not in an Islamic world, we are not China, we are a free country and the people will realize what is happening and they (the government) will take it back."
    Kolios said he can block any sites being used by his customers, and has had to stop some foreign customers from playing games.
    But the government has no intention of taking it back, nor making exceptions to the law.
    The Finance Ministry's General Secretary George Kanellopoulos said the law was put in place to protect the public who could be driven into gambling by the flick of a key.
    The outcry, he said, is driven by owners of electronic games bars who want the law cancelled so they can return to their gambling ways.
    Kanellopoulos said the law did not affect customers but was there for owners of bars, hotels, internet cafes and arcades to dissuade them from allowing betting on games. The fact that the law is so far reaching that it includes online computer games will not make the government budge to rephrase it.
    "If we make exceptions then there will no longer be a law.
    If we start making exceptions for one machine, one game, one business, then we will have to start making exceptions for others. The only exceptions are the casinos. People can go there and gamble freely. There are some 15 in the country, they are close to peoples homes, and if someone makes a conscious decision they want to bet then they will go there.
    We cannot however have someone freely access an electronic game, and then next thing you know, in minutes heup losing his entire income," said Kanellopoulos.
    In the first court case last week highlighting law 3037, two internet cafe owners and an employee in the northern city of Thessaloniki went on trial for violating the law. The judge however dismissed the accused and further claimed the law was unconstitutional, setting the stage for a possible future rift between judiciary and government.
    One of the accused claimed his customers were playing online chess and a computer game when police seized his computers and shut down the cafe. Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse in protest.
    Another Internet cafe owner went to new heights to protest against the law. He climbed the city's tower monument and dangled a sign reading, "No to internet censorship."
    Internet lawyer Anastasios Parthenis, who handles legal affairs concerned with the Internet, calls law 3037 unethical and a violation of freedom. He said he believed that parliament was in a hurry to rush through the law, without taking the time to make it more specific, or find technical methods to monitor if betting is taking place on machines.
    "They know its a mistake. They also know they cant tell if a computer has been used for legal or illegal purposes, "
    Parthenis said.
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