Greece is trying to raise cash by reviving an ambitious program to privatize state assets. The country's lenders, which include the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, hope the sell-off will cut the country's enormous debt.
But Antonis Tsifis, who runs a betting shop in a working-class neighborhood in Athens, is upset that the government is going to sell its stake in OPAP, the giant gaming firm that oversees his betting shop.
"If [the government] wants to sell the most profitable company it has, at a time like this, then what can I say?" he says. "There will be nothing left to sell after that."
The government needs the cash, but critics like Tsifis expect the privatization drive to be a fire sale. The country's lenders say Greece must raise the equivalent of $23 billion through privatization by the end of 2015.
Besides OPAP, other assets for sale include stakes in the electricity company and the site of the former Athens airport. The government also said it would sell its majority share in Hellenic Postbank, a small lender that took major hits after investing heavily in now-devalued Greek government bonds. The bank workers are striking to protest the move.
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