Greece legal gambling sites: check a domain with HGC

The Hellenic Gaming Commission runs a public website-legitimacy checker. On 7 September 2026 it displayed 18 online licence holders and invited users to check whether a website belongs to a licensed provider, a registered affiliate or the regulator's blacklist. That makes it more useful than a general brand search.

Enter the full consumer domain a player was given. Do not assume a global homepage, an app link, a local .gr domain and a marketing subdomain have the same record. If a site redirects, keep both hostnames in your note.

A positive provider result supports the relationship that the checker displays for that website. It is strong evidence for the exact domain, but it should be recorded with the operator name and check date. A similar brand page or another country site still needs its own check.

The result also needs a product reading. Greece's B2C framework has two licence types. Type 1 covers online betting, while Type 2 covers other online games of chance. A reader should not turn one category into a claim about the other.

The checker can also identify a registered affiliate. That tells a reader that HGC recognises an affiliate relationship for the result shown. It does not make the affiliate the licence holder or prove that it operates the gambling product itself.

This distinction is easy to lose in a search snippet. Keep three fields in the research record: the searched domain, the result type and the licence holder named by the service. That protects the factual chain when a marketing name differs from the underlying company.

HGC publishes its blacklist of websites used to provide unauthorised gambling services in Greece. The current page says the list includes domains and websites and, where available, legal persons or representatives. It is therefore a domain-led enforcement record, not a substitute for the positive provider check.

A blacklist match is meaningful for the exact entry. It should not be used to guess a corporate owner where HGC has not identified one. The reverse is also true: a domain that is not on the blacklist has not thereby become a licensed provider.

International gambling groups commonly use different legal entities, product permissions and consumer domains from one market to another. A Greek-language page, an overseas licence or a well-known logo may explain why a user found the service, but none is the HGC's positive record for Greece.

That is why the checker should lead the process. Search the actual hostname, read the result category, then check the provider and product scope. The evidence remains useful even when the answer is limited.

HGC describes Type 1 and Type 2 as distinct B2C online licences under the Greek framework. Type 1 is for online betting. Type 2 is for other online games of chance. A site offering several kinds of games may therefore need evidence that reaches each relevant product category.

Do not fill a gap with a broad phrase such as ‘licensed for casino and betting’ unless the available record supports both. If the checker only supports a domain-to-provider relationship, say that and point the reader to the HGC licensing information for the category question.

When a search returns neither a licensed-provider, affiliate nor blacklist result, record only what the check shows: the exact domain did not produce one of those displayed HGC results on that date. Recheck spelling, www variants and the final redirect destination before stopping.

A no-match is not proof that a service is illegal. It may indicate a domain variant, a changed record or an unresolved corporate relationship. The right response is further evidence, not a stronger accusation.

For a consumer check, keep the original domain, final domain if redirected, HGC result type, named provider or affiliate, relevant product scope and date. For research work, retain the source page and any displayed legal-entity detail. This is enough to make a later recheck precise.

HGC also directs players to responsible-gambling and complaint routes. Those routes are separate from deciding a licence result, but they are the appropriate next step where a player needs assistance or wants to report a suspicious website.