Greek games of chance operator OPAP has been a constant presence in the gambling headlines over the past several days. After the company announced last year that it would put considerable investment into technology improvements across both its retail and online businesses, it has begun delivering on its strategy with the start of the new year.
Within the course of a single week, the operator announced three new partnerships with leading gambling products and services providers and confirmed a deal with another such provider it had reached previously.
OPAP announced that its lottery offering will be provided through technology by Novomatic Lottery Solutions (NLS). The Greek gambling operator is expected to migrate its operations to NLS’s platform sometime next year. Under its agreement with the leading supplier, the company will also see its retail lottery equipment replaced with products from its new partner.
In a separate deal, the newly-established Playtech BGT Sports business will supply OPAP with services and products for self-service betting terminals. A uniform sports betting solution will be introduced for the operator’s retail network at a later stage. As OPAP made it known, the betting products will be rolled out in two phases. Betting terminals will be installed during the first half of 2017. The over-the-counter betting solution is slated to be launched in 2018.
Betgenius will be providing OPAP with an integrated online sportsbook product. The partnership will give the Greek operator and its customers access to around 130,000 sports events every year for a two-year period.
OPAP today confirmed that it has remained committed to working with leading Virtual Sports supplier Inspired Gaming. The two companies first announced their partnership in September 2016. Under their agreement, OPAP will launch Inspired Gaming’s Virtuals content across both it digital and retail divisions. The roll-out is set to begin sometime in the first half of 2017. Virtual Football will be the first product launched by OPAP. More Virtual Sports created by Inspired Gaming will be added by the Greek gambling operator in 2018.
OPAP has vowed to invest €100 million in a technology overhaul and other internal improvements. The company’s heavy investment activity comes as part of its 2020 Vision, an aggressive growth strategy the company announced last year.
