FA L L I N G I N T O L I N E F E A T U R E
CYPRUS
A D U LT POPULATION
1.1 m
Fixed-odds sports betting/ all other forms of online gambling, including poker, casino games and exchange betting
TAX MODEL:
10% N/A
ON SPORTSBOOK REVENUES MINUS WINNINGS
+ 3% OF GROSS REVENUES TOWARDS VULNERABLE AND PROBLEM GAMBLING
PRODUCTS ALLOWED/ BANNED:
ESTIMATED TAX TAKE FIRST FULL YEAR OF REGULATION:
Both countries have yet to fully enforce egaming regulation In Greece, regulations for online gambling have attracted – Cyprus requires a betting committee to be established similar criticism. A draft law last year was questioned by the ?rst, while clari?cation in Greece has taken a back seat amid European Commission, which said it appeared to restrict ?nancial ruin and the priority of forming a government – but the freedom to provide services. At one stage, in order to their attempts to clamp down on gambling-related crime comply with EU laws, the Greek government was forced to have already opened the door to an unpopular monopoly, a alter plans to impose a six-month blackout period preventing model that won’t go unchallenged for long. foreign operators from applying for a licence, again designed to protect OPAP’s interests. The exact legislation has yet to be clari?ed and it remains unclear as to exactly which forms of online gaming will be regulated beyond sports betting, bingo and lottery products. SWEDEN OPAP however, enjoys a monopoly in these areas and is With gross domestic product of around US$458.6bn also planning to roll out online casino and poker via a joint according to the World Bank, and little exposure to the venture, should regulation permit it, later in the year. ?nancial crisis as a result of not holding signi?cant amounts For operators such as Betfair, of debt from Greece, Spain, Italy and which generates around 4% Portugal, Sweden is not in a position where (£9m) of its total revenues from it is forced to turn to egaming legislation Cyprus, the legislation in these in a bid to swell the government’s coffers. “WE BELIEVE THAT CYPRUS countries comes as a signi?cant This, in part, explains the slow progress WILL MIRROR THE BROADER blow and it is likely to be one of legislation in a market where public of many operators to renew demand and worries over player protection EUROPEAN TREND OF MOVING complaints over the law in Cyprus take precedence over ?nancial concerns as TOWARDS CONSTRUCTIVE AND and its compliance with EU law. the driving force behind regulation. Teemu Lehtinen, Betfair’s Sweden is most similar to neighbour SUSTAINABLE ONLINE GAMBLING public affairs manager for Greece Denmark in terms of market framework, REGULATION” and Cyprus, does not believe the with a government-owned monopoly regulation complies with EU law holding a majority share, but a number Teemu Lehtinen, Betfair’s public and says the company is preparing of private operators including Gamesys, affairs manager for Greece and Cyprus a legal challenge. “We believe Betsson and Unibet enjoy reasonable that, in time, Cyprus will mirror returns from the grey dot.com end of the the broader European trend of spectrum. However this is where the moving towards constructive similarities end. While Danish monopoly and sustainable online gambling regulation. This is in Danske Spil was a willing participant in regulation – dividing the interests of all parties, including local government, the business into three separate divisions in order to create customers and operators.” a fairer regulated market – its Swedish counterpart Svenska
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