Greek Anti-Gaming Laws Still Being Enforced

Gamaroo writes "An AFP report on Yahoo indicates that innocent Internet and gaming cafes in Greece are still being raided by police, despite the laws being ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court of the land. From the article: 'In a desperate attempt to clamp down on out-of-control illegal gambling, Greek parliament passed in 2002 a law that summarily banned all public gaming conducted by electronic and mechanical means. Said one man, 'They treat us like criminals,' said Aris Assimakopoulos, a 28-year old computer specialist who runs an internet cafe in downtown Athens. Policemen stormed Assimakopoulos' enterprise twice in January, threw out all clients, confiscated 50 PCs and arrested an employee.'"

Comments

Re:That's a shame

[OgdEnigmaX]

RTFP:

From the article: 'In a desperate attempt to clamp down on out-of-control illegal gambling, Greek parliament passed in 2002 a law that summarily banned all public gaming conducted by electronic and mechanical means.

Re:That's a shame

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not what they are trying to accomplish that is the problem, it's the means by which they are doing it. Most politicians, whether Greek or otherwise, seem to be completely inept when it comes to anything having to do with technology. But rather than spend time and money researching the problems to find real solutions, they just throw together ham-fisted laws like these to get the job done as quick as possible.

Real good logic there....

[MMaestro]

"The law is the law and we have to enforce it, even if it prevents us from pursuing our real aim, which is the fight against illegal gambling," an official at the Athens gaming police told AFP.

So the police are willing to spend thousands of dollars performing "raids" on public cybercafes just because their out in the open and obvious. Real smart there.

This is unlawful but, couldn't the police turn a blind eye on these cybercafes (the law abiding ones of course) and instead focus on the ones that promote/harbor/create/encourage illegal online gambling?

"These guys earn so much, that even when police catch them and confiscate their PCs, they can pay the fines and buy new material with just a single day's proceedings," Gusakis added.

Gee maybe its because they have to increase prices in order to replace the hardware you guys keep destroying? If I was running a car dealership and my cars kept getting confiscated and destroyed by the police, don't you think my prices would have to be pretty high?

Re:Real good logic there....

[YrWrstNtmr]

This is unlawful but, couldn't the police turn a blind eye on these cybercafes (the law abiding ones of course) and instead focus on the ones that promote/harbor/create/encourage illegal online gambling?

As you say, this is unlawful. The police shouldn't choose which laws they enforce.

Get the courts to overturn it, and pass laws concentrating on the actual gambling.

Define Game?

[Stray7Xi]

Game is such a vague word, because many innocent programs can be treated as a game.

Just try to find a cell phone that DOESN'T have games... that Ipod, oh that's illegal. Typing Tutor programs for schools, they probably contain games too... Oh and I doubt they intended to ban internet chess.

Then there's the borderline games. Can online paint programs be a game? MUDs are games, but are MUSH'es? What about chat rooms that people play AD&D in... When google had its online coding competition, does that make coding a game?

It even bans mechanical games... no pinball, no foosball, no airhockey. Is bowling a mechanical game? Hell there's mechanical games in summer olympics... skeet shooting, cycling and archery should all be canceled, arrest the competitors...

The question I have is why is Greece so different about gambling problems that they had it going underground? I understand they'd have video games hacked to be turned into gambling, but why isn't that a big problem in other countries? It seems to me that if people wanted to gamble they could travel to neighboring countries, Greece is in EU right?

The most annoying thing

[Dark Paladin]

You have the Greek supreme court who have ruled the law unconstitutional - yet the Athens police are still enforcing a law that they know will be aquitted. The article even mentions that the cases are all being aquitted, but still the police keep charging people with it at a waste of taxpayer money.

It makes you wonder what the real incentive of the Athens police is. Are they trying to put the Internet Cafes out of business? From their actions, it certainly sounds like it, and if makes you wonder if that's their central aim.

After all, if the legitimate gamers are out, then the only business in town will be illegal gaming.

Re:The most annoying thing

[Dark Paladin]

Interesting system. Granted, I can see the advantages as you mention, but it certainly seems that one annoying part is that you could have an inconsistent set of intepretations of the law from judge to judge.

Thanks for letting me know - it does clear up some things about why the Greek police were still acting this way.

Its Greece....

[wolf-]

In Greece you need to grease some palms to get anything done, or to keep from being done.

The entire culture is based upon graft.

From the street cops to the border guards.

Re:An example of gov't efficiency?

[Naffer]

Greece isn't America remember?
On that same note though, it's not like everyone immediatly listens to the supreme court even in the United States. I'd bet that now that their judicial system has declared the law unconsitutional, it'll take a lawsuit against the Greek government to force them to stop enforcing the law.