Greece’s online gambling market suffered a 40% revenue decline over the first five months of 2020 as sports halted due to COVID-19.

Figures released by the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) show the local online gambling market generated revenue of nearly €150m in the first five months of 2020, a 40% decline from the same period last year.

The year started out well enough with revenue of €49.3m in January, but this slipped to €45m in February, by which time the race to the bottom was well and truly on as the pandemic forced the suspension of most major sports. Revenue slipped to €36.1m in March then hit bottom in April with €29.5m before rebounding slightly to €30m in May.

The Stoiximan betting brand was the unchallenged market leader with a nearly 49% share of the overall pie. Stoiximan started the year off right with revenue of €24.3m in January but this sunk to €14.8m by May.