Cyprus to Legalize Online Casino Gambling

Published on: August 9, 2010 

Every country is looking into how the online casino industry is currently working.  Places like the United Kingdom have begun to fully regulate casinos and tax them.  It caused a shift last year for many of the sites because they didn’t want to pay the higher taxes.  Instead, many online casinos left for areas like Gibraltar which have fewer taxes.  The United States is staunchly opposed to the online casino industry, even prosecuting and denying those who have won money.  British Columbia tried to launch an online casino, but they experienced a data protection breach, shutting down only hours after they had started up the site for public use.

All of these moves made by each country are being scrutinized by countries looking to consider changes in their casino industry.  Cyprus is a good example of this.  They have been sending mixed messages in recent weeks regarding how they will deal with the online casino industry.  Finally they have offered an answer to end the confusion.  They will be formally legalizing and regulating the online casino industry in their company.

The government drafted the bill in order to regulate and tax the online casino industry, especially for the internet sports betting industry.  They have decided to prohibit online poker, slot machines and casino games.  The bill still has to be approved by the European Commission.  They are hoping for an answer by September.

Some of the confusion regarding the past weeks with online casinos came from statements made by government officials to the media.  Minister Loukas made a statement that he was for legalization, but other government officials felt legalization was unneeded.

The entire plan is to help limit problems in the online casino industries that have been running rampant in the last few years.  They also want to stop any other problems from occurring.  Some feel the sheer numbers of online casinos available in Cyprus are causing great risk to their people.  More than that younger generations are able to get into the casinos due to lack of proper regulation.  The government feels if they tax the casinos some will leave and they can enforce better security to keep the younger generations out of the casinos.  Cyprus is just one of the countries looking to solve their online casino issues.  They’ve chosen to go the way of the UK by legalization and regulation with taxes, rather than complete shut down.

Other Recent News:
News Archives
2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007
Casino Offers