Cyprus Proposes Online Gambling Exemption

Published: Friday, March 20, 2009 Online-Casinos.com

Cyprus is the Mediterranean island where it is said the economy is suffering to the tune of 2.5 billion Euro a year because of illegal land based gambling and online casino activity. Finance Minister, Charilaos Stavrakis in a statement to the House Institutions Committee postulated this serious situation. He was immediately pelted with questions as to why there is no law to ban or regulate online wagering.

The Finance Ministry, back in 2004, hired international consultants to draft a law regulating web based gambling. The project was scrapped when it was suspected that the authors were prejudiced by their alleged interests in gambling.

Cyprus is a centre for online gambling and e-commerce processing companies. In an attempt to protect the Cyprus economy the government is prepared to overlook the principles established for gambling and betting online. Because of it's membership in the European Union, Cyprus must think twice about it's position on interfering with the free trade agreements made by member nations.

In a second attempt to bring about new legislation, the ministry is proposing a bill that would apply for an exemption to the E.U.'s free movement of goods and services stipulations, especially aimed at gambling and wagering online. Minister Stavrakis describes it as a long-shot but intends to fast-track the legislation that he knows full well, will have to be approved by the European Commission.

Ricos Erotokritou, chairman of the House Institutions Committee was quoted as saying, "It pains us to see that Cyprus has become a free-for-all when it comes to illegal gambling," Despite efforts, police openly admit they are fighting a lost cause trying to stop illegal gambling on the island. Police raids, over the past two years, have seized more than 5000 computers and have located two servers hosting online gambling games. Police contend that penalties for operating an illegal gambling operation are not a sufficient deterrent. Offenders that are caught pay a small fine of 1500 Euros.