Focus CYPRUS MARKET REPORT
discriminatory among providers of these internet services.
One of the contentions in the Republic of Cyprus is that the Greek lottery and sports betting company OPAP operates in Cyprus and offers its games under a monopolistic basis. OPAP was established in 1958 in Greece. In 2003 the company OPAP (Cyprus) Ltd was set up as a private company to operate all the games of OPAP in Cyprus.
The company’s turnover in 2009 came to €197m with a gross profit of €14m. OPAP has been operating its existing range of games such as numerical lottery games like Lotto, Proto, Joker, Super and Extra in the Republic of Cyprus since 1969. In 2003 it purchased 90 per cent of the shares of Cypriot company Glory Leisure Holdings – and the company then began to offer fixed odds sports betting games and Kino in the Republic of Cyprus.
Meanwhile OPAP also acquired 20 per cent shares of Glory Technology which provides software technology. Today OPAP has 165 agencies in the Republic of Cyprus. Olga Georgiades added: “The bill is considered to affect intra community trade and to be incompatible with the fundamental freedoms of the EC treaty. It violates European Competition Law and recent decisions of the European Court of Justice.
Furthermore it imposes certain absolute prohibitions on online gaming which are not reasonably and objectively justified for the following reasons: “A profit making company (OPAP) has acquired exclusive rights under a concession agreement without the application of a tender. OPAP is now engaged in excessive advertising for the purpose of satisfying its pure profit making purposes. OPAP uses Sports Betting Activities to lure online gaming players inside it shops.
“The betting bill does not justify the objective of curbing of gambling addiction. OPAP, the monopolist undertaking, also offers online games, thus creating risks of addiction. OPAP is not subject to state supervision or monitoring for preventing money laundering and its games are also prohibited by the betting bill but this is overlooked without any justification.”
As online gaming via providers licensed from other EU member states it is technically allowed (or rather not disallowed) and due to an absence of regulation in recent years a number of gaming companies mainly from the UK and Malta have of course provided their
online products. Meanwhile, there are a number of bookmaking companies operating in Cyprus including Ladbrokes and Betfair which are some of the most popular online gaming sites in the Republic of Cyprus. StanleyBet International has a big presence in southern Cyprus and is governed under its StanleyBet Malta Limited company.
The company has a total of 2,000 outlets across Europe and holds licenses in the UK, Croatia, Romania and Malta. StanleyBet is now one of the leading cross border retail sports betting groups with intermediaries in Cyprus, Germany and Italy. The first Stanleybet shop was established in Cyprus in August 2006 and today the company has 85 shops throughout the island offering a full range of sportsbetting products with a RNG product similar to that offered in the UK licensed betting shops.
Brian Wade of Stanleybet said: “This RNG product offers betting opportunities on graphically displayed football, horseracing, greyhounds and motor racing events. Stanleybet welcomes the introduction of the draft regulation the
As online gaming via providers
licensed from other EU member states it is technically
allowed (or rather
not disallowed) and due to an absence of regulation in recent years a
number of gaming companies mainly from the UK and Malta have, of
course, provided their online products.
main elements of which include the introduction of a fit and proper test to ensure the legality and integrity of prospective license holders and a 10 per cent gross profits tax which would effectively exclude customers from tax which would be paid by bookmakers dependent upon the level of their profits.
“It would also be an offence to possess or operate slot machines or any machines through which online casino services can be provided and would require any individual or company wishing to offer betting services to hold an appropriate license and also a submission to the National Betting Authority of annual audited accounts,” commented Mr. Wade.
MegaBet is another major based bookmaker company in the Republic of Cyprus which was founded in 1987 and is now owned by the Zenon Group. Megabet has a 40 per cent market share with around 100 betting outlets. There are around 250 betting shops in the Republic of Cyprus in total and the betting sector is controlled by the Ministry of Finance.
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