The break caused by the European Commission’s bureaucracy
Despite the high hopes cherished by the Cyprus government that it will manage to impose a ban on online gambling before the end of the year, the European Commission’s bureaucratic procedures and feedback from member states and the EU executive caused a three-month delay in the process.
The proposed bill depicts the government’s goal to ban all forms of online gambling except online sports betting, allegedly in order to protect the citizens. To achieve its aim and be exempted from the EU policies, the Cyprus government has used the European Court of Justice decision for Portugal as a model.
According to Reuters’ reports, the Mediterranean island’s finance ministry spokesman reminded that the government submitted the draft bill to the EC for approval, believing that it will pass the procedure by the end of 2010. However, its hopes were dashed when it was informed that the feedback will not be available before March 2011.