Greek State Lotteries tender draws interest from Brightstar, OPAP

Brightstar, the new brand of the IGT lottery business, and OPAP have both expressed interest in a tender to assume control of the Greek State Lotteries.

Launched on 23 June, the tender covers the exclusive right to produce, manage, operate and promote the Greek State Lotteries. The successful bidder would oversee the lottery for a period of at least 10 years.

Offerings and products included in the tender are the Instant State Lottery, State Housing Lottery, Popular Lottery, Special Social National Lottery, National Lottery and Extraordinary or Special Lottery drawn by the European Association of State Lotteries.

The deadline for expressions of interest was 23 July, with both Brightstar and OPAP lodging their interest. This was confirmed by GrowthFund, the national investment fund of Greece, which is overseeing the tender.

GrowthFund will evaluate the two expressions of interest. Those that meet pre-qualification criteria will be invited to participate in Phase B of the process, including the submission of binding offers.

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Hellenic Lotteries, a subsidiary of OPAP, currently holds the exclusive rights to the Greek State Lotteries. GrowthFund will take this into consideration when analysing the offers, when they arrive in Phase B.

Lottery operations formed the primary source of revenue for OPAP in Q1 of 2025. Revenue from lottery topped €206.8 million ($243.1 million), up 5.5% year-on-year. Of this, 94.2% came from retail operations.

Overall revenue at OPAP was also up 8.2% to €595.0 million. The group’s iGaming business saw the most growth, with revenue rising 19.8% year-on-year to €84.9 million. A further €190.0 million came from sports betting, €87.8 million video lottery terminals and instant and passives €25.6 million.

As for Brightstar, the name change did not come into effect until after Q1. Group revenue at the wider IGT business in the quarter hit €583 million, down 10% year-on-year following declines across three of its four core operating segments.

Instant ticket and draw-based revenue dropped 3% to $500.0 million. IGT also noted a 46% drop in US multi-state jackpot wager-based revenue. Other revenue also declined by 28% to $89 million, although up-front licence fee amortisation improved slightly year-on-year.

In total, service revenue fell 10% to $557 million, with product sales revenue down 38% to $26 million.