ATHENS: The Greeks are not unaccustomed to prohibition. When a group of junior army officers seized power in a coup in 1967, Greek men were told they could no longer grow beards while women were banned from slipping into anything that might resemble a mini-skirt. Military might ensured that such risible social strictures were enforced for an entire seven years.

Mercifully, the same cannot be said of Athens’ bizarre attempt to ban all electronic and video games, starting with the likes of Tetris, Pacman and other portable computer games consoles.

As bans go, this one will be best remembered for its brevity.

“The authorities might have watered it down but they have not rescinded it and that worries us immensely,” said one member of Greece’s association of internet cafe owners.

By issuing a clarification — but refusing to remove the bill from the statute books — internet cafe owners claim the socialist government is simply scrambling for ways to ensure the law does not become a dead letter.

Originally conceived as a way of stemming the nation’s irrepressible passion for gambling, last year’s anti-gaming law was to become the shortest-lived piece of legislation in the history of modern Greece. It survived a mere six weeks before shame-faced officials were forced, under international and local pressure, to back down.

In a tersely worded statement, the finance ministry assured Greeks and tourists that computer games were in fact legal as long as they were not used for “financial gain”.

“The installation and use of games in homes and residential areas is allowed if there is no financial benefit involved,” the ministry explained. “The same applies to public and private areas ... if again there is no financial gain for the player or any third party.”

Under the blanket ban even flight and popular soccer simulators were outlawed from all public business settings — including hotels and passenger ships — lest they tempt Greeks to dig deep into their pockets. Greek punters, it is estimated, lose more than US dollars 4.5 million a day even though, officially, gambling is permitted only in a handful of state-licensed casinos.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis’ reformist government took the draconian measure after numerous bar and arcade owners were discovered to have modified over 200,000 slot machines into illegal gambling machines.

In one particularly embarrassing incident, Alekos Chrisanthopoulos, the socialist member of parliament heading the parliamentary committee set up to look at ways of tackling the illicit pastime, was filmed, in secret, playing a one-armed bandit primed to give out money instead of bonus time.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.