Republic of Cyprus
Cyprus is a licensed betting market with a deliberately narrow perimeter, and the gap between what it licenses and what it hosts is the thing to understand. The Betting Law of 2012 created the National Betting Authority and two licence classes: Class A for betting in licensed premises, and Class B for online betting. Class B expressly excludes casino games, slots and lotteries, so online casino, poker and bingo cannot be licensed in Cyprus at all. That perimeter sits alongside a large corporate presence. Cyprus is one of the most common European bases for iGaming holding companies, affiliates and B2B suppliers serving other markets, drawn by the corporate regime rather than by a gambling licence. Being established in Cyprus and being licensed to serve Cypriot players are different things, and a company registered in Limassol is usually doing the former. A Class A or Class B licence carries a fee of 30,000 euros for one year or 45,000 euros for two.
The unlicensable verticals are the question to watch. A jurisdiction that hosts a substantial industry while refusing to license most of its products has an obvious policy tension, and pressure to widen the Class B perimeter recurs. Nothing has been enacted.
The regulator has seen gambling activity spike around the days minimum-income payments land, and has been asking since 2023 how to check whether a casino-card applicant is a benefit recipient. The answer on the table is a yes-or-no lookup against an ID number. The Data Protection Commissioner's alternative, a card that marks the holder out, drew warnings about stigma.
National Betting Authority (Cyprus)