Greece Bans Video Games

Kathimerini ^

[chudogg]

On-line chess banned from Internet cafes?

Three months after promising to instantly outlaw all electronic games from the public domain in the wake of a heated public debate on widespread illegal gambling, the government tabled a bill to that effect in Parliament yesterday.

The draft law, presented by the Economy and Finance Ministry, bans any form of “electric, electro-mechanical and electronic” game devices, including computers, from hotels, coffee shops, club premises and public areas in general. This will not apply to Internet cafes, which, however, will not be allowed to offer their clients computer games.

The police will be responsible for catching offenders, who will face fines of 5,000 to 75,000 euros and imprisonment of one to 12 months.

The blanket ban was decided in February after the government admitted it was incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines.

[chudogg]

Just saw this at Fark.

[chudogg]

BAH! Posted it too early, i didnt mean to put it all in bold.

[paulklenk]

Well, what do you expect from a country that can't even spell its name correctly!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The blanket ban was decided in February after the government admitted it was incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines.

Then either legalize gambling or hire more cops!

WHAT A BUNCH OF DUMBASSES!

[Consort]

What a bunch of crockonopolis.

[chudogg]

My guess is this will result in a few a-hole Judges giving a bunch of strict sentences to people who play pac-man, while illegal gambling goes on unhibited. This law will probaly be overturned in a few years as it reveals itself as a total failure, not to mention the loss of individual rights.

[Dimensio]

Interesting that the article claims that it only applies to public places. A number of Greek video game advocates have claimed that this will apply to Internet cafes and even home usage. Not sure who to believe except anyone who says that the Greek parliment is riddled with morons who are horrible monsters and should pray for death.