Cyprus Land Casino Gambling
Published: Monday, November 14, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
CYPRUS LAND CASINO GAMBLING
Significant numbers of online casino gamblers "up north"
Most people in the industry associate the Mediterranean island of Cyprus with
offshore gambling or e-cash company headquarters, but a recent article in the
Cyprus Mail highlighted the presence of significant numbers of land casino gamblers
on the island.
Reporting on a fierce political debate about the financial, social and tourism
aspects of setting up land casinos in the southern (Greek) regions the newspaper
reported some impressive numbers in interim studies of the market.
Research has shown that 330,000-400,000 Greek Cypriots visit casinos in the north
annually, leaving behind 44 million (presumably Cyprus) pounds.
One official said that “The creation of casinos will help to give quality
service to tourists visiting the island and to Greek Cypriots interested in gambling,
instead of the sleazy, low-class game clubs in the north. The decision on whether
to build a casino will be taken by the government after the Cyprus Tourism Office
finalises its full report.”
Nicos Rossos, President of SAKO, The Association Confronting Social Problems,
slammed the possibility of a casino opening on the island and offered some depressing
statistics of his own.
"It is worth noting the potential cost to the national economy for the treatment
of compulsive gamblers," he said. "There are 616,700 persons aged 12
and over (we have used this base because we shall soon present a study on youth
gambling in Cyprus) in the free areas. According to the Centre for Research on
Human Behaviour, an NGO based in Athens, the cost of treatment per addict is 9,000
(Cyprus) pounds. So multiply 6,167 – the conservative 1 percent estimate
for those likely to become addicted – by 9,000 and you get a cost of 55,503,000;
assume the figure is more likely to be two per cent, and the cost to the taxpayer
rises to 111,006,000. This is just the cost of treatment: it does not include
casino-linked criminality."
He concluded by saying that, “in my opinion, the House of Representatives
will not give the go-ahead for a casino. They know very well about all the problems
associated with casinos and it’s just not worth adding to all our existing
problems.”
