History of the Regulation of Games of Chance in Greece
Games of chance, in which the participants wager a stake with valuables or money is not an activity that appeared in recent times. They were very common in ancient societies. Historians situate their origin in the third millennium BC in the Far East and Egypt. Such games were common in ancient Greece and Rome. In the course of time however games of chance have changed dramatically into the form they appear today.1
From 1946, when the Greek Civil Code was put into effect, it contains three articles regulating debts from wagers.2 According to these provisions games of chance are considered as contracts. The main characteristic of these contracts is that the consideration stipulated depends on a random event. Contacts based on chance are also insurance contracts however the law treats insurance contracts as socially useful contrary to contracts based on games of chance. It is precisely for this reason that the civil code legislator after evaluating the dangers for society and the potential social problems that can arise as a result of people’s involvement in such games, avoids giving them full legal status but, at the same time, does not prohibit their existence.
