This website is owned and operated by Stage5 N.V. 147318), of E-Commerce Park Vredenberg, Curacao. When it comes to online casino Cyprus legal bodies forbid all forms of Cyprus online gambling, except for the online sports betting. This ban is effective in accordance with the online gambling law in Cyprus, passed in 2012. What online gambling authority Cyprus possesses? Are Cyprus Online Casinos Legal? Complete list of all the best online casinos that accept Cyprus players. Betsafe online casino is a large entertainment portal.
Cypriot betting sites are making a comeback due to recent changes in the law. Cyprus once served as an online gambling hub that licensed international betting sites, but did away with all that with anti-gambling legislation passed in 2012. The country stopped issuing licenses for a period, but that has changed since the passage of new laws that came into effect in 2016.
During a one-month period in late 2016, Cyprus held a licensing period during which international betting sites were able to apply for licenses. The National Betting Authority ultimately awarded only a few licenses to date. Most international betting sites have not yet applied for a license in Cyprus.
Best Cyprus Betting Sites
There remain laws on the books that could in theory put people behind bars for placing bets with unlicensed bookmakers. The good news is these laws appear unenforceable as can be evidenced by Cypriots visiting unregulated online casinos for years without any legal trouble. The risk isn’t zero, but it’s pretty close.
In any case, that should no longer be an issue once Cyprus finalizes its licensing system. Some betting websites are actually authorized to accept wagers as of today. The Cyprus betting sites that we recommend above have all been granted to accept real money wagers and can be considered fully legal.
Where to Bet Online in Cyprus
If you’re tired of Greek-controlled OPAP and its paltry selection of lottery-style games, you’re going to have to take your business to offshore gaming sites. The sites recommended above are all licensed by Cypriot authorities and can be considered safe places to play.
Greek and Turkish aren’t particularly catered-to in online gambling due to the restrictive gaming laws in both of those countries. Even so, some sites do offer their services in both languages, with Greek being slightly more common.
The biggest challenge you’ll face is getting around government internet censorship. A blacklist of more than 2,500 websites is blocked by local internet service providers. If you are intent on playing at an unlicensed provider, the best way to get around the block is to purchase a VPN subscription. Basically, a VPN creates an encrypted connection between you and each website you visit, thereby preventing prying eyes from watching what you’re doing and evading censorship measures.
Is it Legal to Bet Online in Cyprus?
Cyprus does allow online betting, but only with licensed providers. It is unclear if the law targets individual gamblers, but the law does clearly state that it is illegal for companies to accept wagers from the public without the proper license.
The laws of Cyprus could possibly be applied to individual gamblers, but this has never happened. You’ll find the occasional news story of Cyprus authorities raiding underground gambling dens and breaking up poker games, but there are no stories of individuals being busted for gambling.
Even in cases where authorities break up unlicensed betting shops, they go after the operators and not the customers. It would be a stretch to imagine the authorities actively monitoring the internet to bust people for betting at offshore gambling sites.
Melco Casino Cyprus
Gambling Laws in Cyprus
To make sense of the gambling laws in Cyprus, we must first talk about the political situation there. The island is essentially divided into two different nations. One of these is the southern, Greek-controlled side of the island called the Republic of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus considers itself the legitimate government of the entire island. Every nation except Turkey recognizes the Republic of Cyprus as the rightful government of the whole island.
The northern side of the island is controlled by Turkish people and the country of Turkey. This side of the island considers itself an independent nation called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Turkey is the only outside nation that recognizes this as a legitimate, sovereign nation.
The gaming laws that I describe here are put forth by the Republic of Cyprus (the south side). They apply to the entire island on paper, but in practice really only apply to the south side of the island. The northern side of the island marches to the beat of a different drum.
Casino Cyprus Online Banking
Nowhere is this situation more clearly depicted than in the brick-and-mortar gambling industry. The Republic has a longstanding ban on gambling and does not allow the operation of physical casinos. This is supposed to apply to the entire island but again, that’s just on paper. The northern side has at least 20 casinos.
The brick-and-mortar casino industry in the north has been doing well for itself. Southerners head north all the time to gamble in addition to tourists from Turkey and Europe. The south is discussing legislation to open its own competing casinos. A legal framework was discussed in 2014 with the hopes of establishing the first southern casino in Cyprus some time in 2015.
Betting Law of 2012
Online gambling in Cyprus is regulated by the Betting Law of 2012. Before the Law was passed, online gambling was widespread in the nation. Cyprus served as a popular licensing jurisdiction for years. Some of the biggest betting websites that we still know today were licensed in Cyprus at one point.
That all came to an end in 2012 with the passage of the Betting Law. The Law immediately banned all forms of internet gambling except for fixed-odds sports betting and the national lottery operated by OPAP. OPAP was the monopoly provider in Greece and now enjoys similar status in Cyprus. Updates to the law in 2016 finally opened the market to competition from foreign betting websites.
Online bookmakers are allowed to offer their services in Cyprus as long as they obtain a license and authorization to do so. Licensed sports betting sites must operate on a .com.cy domain and are subject to a variety of taxes and regulations. The expense and difficulty in getting a license combined with the relatively small population has led most sites to not get a license.
Some betting sites opted to block all customers from Cyprus in order to comply with the nation’s laws. Other sites continue to accept customers from Cyprus despite not having a license. The Betting Act promises punishments of up to 5 years in prison and a €300,000 fine for anyone offering bookmaking services without a license, but it has no ability to enforce such punishments for gambling sites based overseas in other nations.
The Betting Law also includes punishments for people who place bets with unlicensed Cypriot betting websites. Anyone found placing bets “contrary to any of the provisions of present law” may be imprisoned for up to a year and fined up to €50,000. Fortunately, it appears this law is completely unenforced.
To top it all off, Cyprus also implements web censorship to block access to offshore gaming sites. At last word, the government had a blacklist of more than 2,500 websites that ISPs are required to block. ISPs that don’t comply face fines of €30,000 per offense.
In summary, online casinos and poker sites are illegal, online sports betting requires a costly license and few companies are willing to obtain that license. Cyprus will need to update its laws if it wants to compete with the rest of the European Union for gambling euros. And right now, Cyprus needs every euro it can get.
2016 Update: Licensing Betting Sites in Cyprus
Whereas the 2012 law was a terrible thing for betting online in Cyprus, updates to the law in 2016 paint a much more optimistic picture. The National Betting Authority began issuing provisional licenses in anticipation of fully implementing new online gaming laws. Most recently, the National Betting Authority held a one-month licensing window running from 3 October to 3 November 2016 during which operators could apply for licenses.
Any betting sites that failed to apply for a license during that time had their names added to the ISP blocking blacklist. At last count, the list prevented citizens from accessing more than 2,500 unlicensed gambling websites. Eight operators applied and have been granted provisional licenses:
- Betfair.com
- Betonalfaonline.com
- Meridianbet.com
- Winmasters.com
- Sportingbet.com
- Stoiximan.gr
- Ubet.eu
The current licensing conditions require prospective licensees to have paid up share capital of at least €500,000 and pay a licensing fee of €30,000 for one year or €45,000 for two years. Furthermore, licensed operators pay a combined total of 13% in taxes. It’s a bit of an expensive proposition for a country with a fairly small population, but eight operators have so far deemed it to be worthwhile.
After the licensing period ended, the National Betting Authority announced that it would be adding 2,500 unlicensed gambling operators to the internet blacklist. Most of the named sites are involved in casino gambling, which is expressly illegal under Cypriot gaming laws. The list now contains a mixture of unlicensed sports betting sites, online casinos and poker sites.
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR USE OF COOKIES
1. What are cookies?
Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to improve user experience when you browse our website, also allows us to improve our site and provide the business with marketing information about the site’s visitors. This page explains what cookies are, what they are used for and how you can adjust your settings to manage cookies.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your device (be it a computer, tablet, mobile phone or any other device that can access the internet) if you agree. The information in the cookie can be used to track your internet usage.
2. What cookies do we use?
We use the following cookies:
Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.
Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Targeting cookies.These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
| Cookie | Name | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Age Confirmation | Age Compliance | This cookie is essential to fulfil our legal obligations. |
| Policy acknowledgement | Policy compliance | Recognise you when you return to our site. |
You have the choice to block all or some cookies on your browser or the hard drive of your computer by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after 28 days.
Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.
3. Managing cookies
a. Acceptance or blocking of cookies
You can manage cookies by activating the setting on your Internet browser that allows you to accept or refuse the setting of all or some cookies. You can accept or block cookies on a case-by-case basis, or you can block all cookies. Please note, that changing your settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) may affect your access to content and services on our site that require the use of cookies. We do not accept any responsibility for any consequences relating to improper operation of our services where it results from our inability to save or consult cookies necessary for the operation of those services or if you have blocked or deleted those cookies. If you consent to the saving of cookies contained in content that you have accessed, those cookies will be stored temporarily in a dedicated location on your device. Please note that you can also adjust the settings on your browser so that it indicates the cookies that are being stored on your device and asks you whether you want to accept them.
b. Adjusting your settings on different browsers
Each browser has a different set up for the management of cookies and on this basis we provide below (for convenience purposes) the link for the adjustment of cookies to the four most frequently used browsers:
If your browser is not mentioned hereinabove, you should examine the possibilities of your browser in relation to the adjustment of your cookie settings.
Depending on the type of cookie, there are other ways of managing cookies that do not involve adjusting your browser's settings.
c. Blocking Google Analytics' cookies
Google Analytics mainly uses audience-measuring cookies to report on user interactions on Google Analytics customers’ websites and such cookies have been placed on our site by Google Analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information in an anonymous form (aggregated) about how visitors use the website, for example, the number of page views, how visitors have arrived at the website, and the number of visits. The purpose is to help us improve the usability of the website. The information generated through your website usage is redirected to and stored by Google Inc. You can block these specific cookies by clicking on the deactivation link below, downloading the add-on and installing it on your browser. Please check compatibility of the add on with your browser.
Google Analytics deactivation link: Deactivate Google Analytics
We would like to highlight that the downloaded add-on will save a cookie on your device, but that cookie will be used only to prevent your browser from transmitting data to Google Analytics.
For more information on deactivating Google Analytics and installing the browser add-on, click here: Browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics
For more information on how Google Analytics’ treats personal information when you use Google's products and services click here: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
d. Blocking social network cookies
To block cookies used by social networks (e.g. via sharing buttons), follow the instructions in the links below:
Privacy Notice
Purpose and Scope
This Privacy Policy provides an overview of how Integrated Casino Resorts Cyprus Limited (“ICR”) processes your personal data. ICR is a member of the worldwide Melco group, which is active in the gaming industry across various locations. “Personal data” refers to any information relating to you that ICR obtains from you or about you from other parties.
We are committed to protecting your privacy – in this Privacy Policy, we set out how we collect your personal data, how we use it, and what rights and choices you have in relation to the personal data we hold and process.
Who decides why and how we process your personal data?
ICR determines why and how we process your personal data and is the Data Controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as 'Company', 'we', 'us' or 'our' in this Privacy Policy.
What personal data might we collect about you?
We collect different types of personal data for different reasons – this may include:
Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
Transaction Data includes data necessary for us to process payments and implement fraud prevention measures, including credit / debit card numbers, security code numbers and other such relevant billing details.
Technical Data iincludes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
Profile Data includes your username and password for platforms maintained by the ICR (where you have access to any), purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
Compliance data includes personal data we may collected on you for the purposes of complying with our legal obligations.
Recruitment Data such as previous employers, references by previous employers or colleagues, type of job held at other companies, previous or expected salaries, skills and qualifications obtained through education or experience. This personal data will help us make a decision on your suitability for employment and in case your application is for future vacancies the aforesaid personal data will help us to decide which department you may be most suitable in.
We may occasionally collect Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). In some instances, this may also include information about criminal convictions and offences.
When do we collect your personal data?
Cyprus Casino Resort
We may collect personal data about you in various cases, such as for example:When you or your business seek our products or services or use any of our online services, including but not limited to setting up an account through our websites;
When you or your organisation make an enquiry through our website, in person, over email or over the telephone, including but not limited to applying for a position at ICR;
When you attend an event we may organise, or sign up to receive communications from us;
When a corporate entity engages us to provide services and you hold an office or an interest in or have certain relationships with that entity (e.g. as a director or employee);
When you or your organisation provide services to us, or otherwise offer to do so;
When you or your organisation provide us with feedback;
When we collect information based on your behaviour, preferences, patterns and similar to tailor our services and to enable us to provide you with privileges and special access on that basis;
When we receive personal data such as Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from third party providers of technical, payment and delivery services.
How will we use your personal data?
We will use your personal data, for the following purposes (“Permitted Purposes”):Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
To provide you with services or other similar services you may have requested, including online services, as instructed or requested by you or your organisation;
To manage and administer your or your organisation's business relationship with us, including processing payments, accounting, billing and collection or support services;
For compliance with our legal or tax obligations (such as anti-money laundering, regulatory or tax reporting);
To analyse and improve our services and communications to you;
To process complaints in relation to our services and products
To communicate with you through the channels you have approved to keep you up to date on the latest developments, announcements, and other information about our services, products and technologies at ICR as well as events we may organise;
To comply with court orders and exercises and/or defend our legal rights;
To review your application for an employment position with us.
Where you have expressly given us your consent, we may process your personal data also for the following purposes:
For customer surveys, marketing campaigns, market analysis, contests or other promotional activities or events; or
To collect information about your preferences to create a user profile to personalise and foster the quality of our communication and interaction with you (for example, by way of newsletter tracking or website analytics).
With regard to newsletters, legal updates and other general communications, you will always have the option to opt out of receiving such communications at any time.
Information on our promotional offers
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing). You will receive marketing communications from us if you have consented to it or if you have requested information or purchased services from us or if you provided us with your details when you entered a competition or registered for a promotion and in each case, you have not opted out of receiving marketing communications.
Treatment of third-party marketing
We will always get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any company outside the Company for marketing purposes.
Legal grounds for processing
Depending on which of the above Permitted Purposes we use your personal data for, we may process your personal data on one or more of the following legal grounds provided for under applicable data protection legislation:
Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or your organisation.
Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Where it is necessary for our or our contractors’ (where applicable) legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
When we have your consent to do so, where you have expressly given this to us.
How might we share your personal information?
We may disclose your personal data where we may instruct service providers within or outside ICR (including affiliates and group companies), domestically or abroad, e.g. IT services or server providers, to process personal data for the Permitted Purposes on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions only. In certain case, this may also mean that your personal data may be transferred to locations outside the EU or EEA. ICR will retain control over and will remain fully responsible for your personal data and will use appropriate safeguards as required by applicable law to ensure the integrity and security of your personal data when engaging such service providers;
We will otherwise only disclose your personal data when you direct us or give us permission to do so or otherwise as required by law, such as for meeting legal and tax obligations.
Website third-party links
The ICR and Melco websites may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
Transfers of personal data abroad
Melco is active across the world – this means that we may transfer your personal data abroad if required to do so for the Permitted Purposes. In certain cases, this may include transferring data to countries which do not offer the same level of protection as the laws of your country (such as for example the data protection legislation of the EU/EEA).
When making such transfers, we will ensure that they are subject to appropriate safeguards in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679) or other relevant data protection legislation, or that we otherwise comply with the requirements and standards under Regulation 2016/679 for transferring personal data abroad. Please get in touch at dpo@melco-resorts.com.cy if you wish to obtain further information on the appropriate safeguards which we are adhering to.
Can you refuse to share your personal data with us?
In general, we receive your personal data where you provide this on a voluntary basis, and there will typically be no detrimental effect for you if you wish not to provide this or otherwise withhold your consent for it to be processed. However, there are certain cases where we will unfortunately be unable to act without receiving such data, for example where we need to carry out legally required compliance screening or require such data to process your instructions or orders, or otherwise to provide you with our online services or communications.
Where it is not possible for us to provide you with what you request without the relevant personal data, we will let you know accordingly.
How do we keep your personal data safe?
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach in accordance with applicable legal procedures.
Personal data we receive from you about other people
Where you provide us with the personal data of other people, such as your employees, directors of your companies, or other persons you may have dealings with, you must ensure that you are entitled to disclose that personal data to us and furthermore that, without being required to take further steps, we can collect, use and disclose that data in the manner described in this Policy.
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We delete your personal data once it is no longer reasonably necessary for us to keep it for the Permitted Purposes, or, where we have relied on your consent to keep your personal data, once you withdraw your consent for us to do so, and we are not otherwise legally permitted or required to keep the data. We will in any event not keep your personal data for longer than seven (7) years.
In relation to CVs and related information which we may receive for potential employment with ICR or an affiliated company in relation to the casinos in Cyprus, unless we receive a specific request for erasure, we will delete such information from company records after the lapse of six (6) months.
Importantly, ICR will keep your personal data as necessary for the purposes of defending or making legal claims until the end of the period during which we may retain the data and otherwise until the settlement of any such claims, as relevant.
For further information on how long we may keep your data for please get in touch at dpo@melco-resorts.com.cy.
What rights do you have?
Subject to certain circumstances under applicable legislation, you have the right to:
Request a copy of the personal data which we hold about you or in certain cases request us to transfer the data we hold about you to another provider;
Have any inaccurate data we hold about you corrected;
Object or restrict our use of your personal data, including but not limited to object to our use of automated decision making in certain cases;
Submit a complaint if you have concerns about the wat in which we are handling your data;
Request that we delete the personal data we hold on you;
Where we have relied on consent to process your personal data, to withdraw your consent.
To do any of the above, please contact us at dpo@melco-resorts.com.cy. To enable us to process your request, we may require that you provide us with proof of your identity, such as by providing us with a copy of a valid form of identification – this is to protect the personal data we hold from unauthorised access requests and comply with our security obligations.
We may charge you a reasonable administrative fee for any unreasonable or excessive requests we may receive, and for any additional copies of the data you may request.
Corrections, updates and complaints
Where any personal data you have provided us with has changed, or where you believe the personal data we hold is inaccurate, or where you wish to make a complaint regarding our handling of your personal data, please let us know at dpo@melco-resorts.com.cyor send us a letter addressed at:
Data Protection Officer
Zavos Pavilion Tower
2nd Floor, Suite 202
Corner of Pafou & Omonoias Avenue No.50
3052 Limassol
In relation to complaints, we will promptly respond to your requests and complaints. In the event that you are unhappy with our response, you may submit a complaint to the relevant privacy regulator. We can provide details of the relevant privacy regulator upon request.
In addition, please note that if you have certain relationships with us or a Third Party Entity to which we provide services, you and/or the third party entity may have a contractual or legal obligation to notify us of any change within a prescribed time period. We cannot be responsible for any loss that may arise due to us having any inaccurate, incomplete, inauthentic or otherwise deficient personal data which you or a third party entity have provided to us. Please also let us know if you wish to withdraw any request.
Online Casino Cyprus
Cookies
We may store cookies on your devices for the purposes of delivering a better user experience for you on our websites – please see our Cookies Policy.
Get in touch
We would be happy to hear your views about our website and this Privacy Policy – please let us know any questions, comments or clarifications you may have at dpo@melco-resorts.com.cy or send us a letter at:
Data Protection Officer
Zavos Pavilion Tower
2nd Floor, Suite 202
Corner of Pafou & Omonoias Avenue No.50
3052 Limassol
Changes to our Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy was last updated in September 2018. We have the right to update the contents of this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect any changes in the way in which we process your personal data or to reflect legal requirements as these may change. In case of updates, we will post the revised Privacy Policy on our website. Changes will take effect as soon as the revised version is made available on our websites.
You can request a hard copy of the Privacy Policy in Greek at dpo@melco-resorts.com.cy.