Cyprus is an island located on the east end of the Mediterranean Sea. It's located about 100 miles west of Syria and about 125 miles north-west of Lebanon. It's also about 75 miles south of Turkey.
Overview
Back in 2012, the Cyprus government passed the Online Gambling Bill 2012, thereby banning all forms of online gambling with the exception of fixed-odds betting. This meant that online casinos, poker rooms, slots and even betting exchanges were all required to withdraw their services directed at the Cyprian player pool.
At that time...
... this was one of the strictest gambling industry regulative worldwide. What is more, it included a rather aggressive policy regarding ISP blocking. In other words, Internet Service Providers in the country were required to block up to 270 gambling operator domains or face a fine of €30k.
This resulted in a lack of choice for gambling enthusiasts across the country, as fixed-odds betting was the only permitted action. By 2014, both the Ministry of Finance and the National Betting Authority (NBA) were ready to start introducing some forms of gambling action back in the country.
First to come was the announcement and gradual selection process for an operator that would offer a whole integrated casino resort on the south side of the island. It would feature 1 major location and 4 smaller satellites, with the full integrated casino experience choice of gameplay.
Prior to announcing the official choice, which turned out to be the Melco – Hard Rock Resorts Consortium...
... additional regulations were drawn up.
This awarded the specific casino operator with a 30 year license, of which the first 15 operating exclusively on the territory. So far, it has announced construction projections to finalize sometime into 2020-2021, while its temporary casino in Limassol officially opened its doors by July, 2018. The finalized establishment will be charged a 15% monthly tax rate, as well as additional fees once it has launched.
While the land-based casino industry slowly rose to its feet, the interactive gambling operators were given much more abrupt approval. October 3rd, 2016, the NBA issued a request for applications for interactive online gambling platforms.
The first operator – Bet365, entered the market early in January 2017, with just a few months time span, and quickly attracted a range of other interested service providers to this marketplace.
Nowadays, the North of the island features the full range of online gambling services as part of available forms of entertainment. They benefit from taxes on all gambling forms separately – 0.5% on sports and pool betting and 5% on betting exchanges, while online casinos face a flat tax rate of €4,600 per month for the first 6 months, and €6,900 for all following months.
Southern Cyprus is more restrictive...
... as sports betting remained the only form of online gambling, as initially proclaimed by the 2012 bill. The tax policy has also remained the same – 10% gross profit tax and 3% additional tax per annum as contribution to problem gambling programmes.
Licensing
The respective authoritative bodies mentioned above are in charge of handling licenses for both land-based and online casino establishments. The former may maintain a secret of its application and licensing fee, at least during its 15-year exclusivity period.
Contrary to it, any operator interested in being part of the interactive segment of the industry could do so by paying an initial fee of €30k for one year, or €45k for 2-year licenses. This has proven to be a rather straightforward way of handling the matter, as the player base in Northern Cyprus does not lack variety in terms of operators nor game products.
While some of the fees have been disclosed, the standards used for when the National Betting Authority awards licenses aren't widely available.
Player Protections
It's not clear what level of player protections exist for regulated lottery play and sports betting in Cyprus. However, it is clear that they're very aggressive about blocking unlicensed sites, with a few hundreds sites that are actively maintained on an ISP blacklist. Along these lines, they have also made it explicitly illegal to play with any types of online gambling that haven’t been legalized and licensed in the specific island region.
Nevertheless, such stringent measures only serve as further indications towards the strict requirements that must be upheld by respective operators in terms of player satisfaction and protection.
Further Reading
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