Cyprus eyes gambling ban for welfare recipients
Lawmakers and regulators have met to explore how welfare recipients could be identified and prevented from gambling.
Cyprus.- Cypriot lawmakers and regulators are reportedly looking into ways to prevent recipients of the Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) from using welfare payments for gambling. The review has been fuelled by concerns about the use of state support funds by vulnerable households.
Known locally as EEE, the GMI is a welfare benefit designed to guarantee a legal minimum income for residents whose earnings are insufficient to meet basic living costs. Similar debates over gambling with welfare payments have been heard in other jurisdictions. Brazil introduced a ban on gambling for certain welfare recipients last year.
According to Cyprus Mail, members of the House Audit Committee, the Data Protection Commissioner and representatives from the Welfare Benefits Administration Service (WBAS), the Gaming & Casino Supervision Commission and the National Betting Authority (NBA) have discussed potential measures for identifying and restricting gambling among GMI beneficiaries. However, the discussions brought up a range of legal, technical and privacy challenges that could complicate enforcement.
Harris Tsangarides, executive director of the Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission, said the regulator had observed increases in gambling activity around the dates when GMI payments are distributed. As a result, authorities have explored a “technical solution” that would allow beneficiary records to be cross-checked against casino membership databases.
A key issue raised during the discussions was the limited access that authorities currently have to the banking information of welfare recipients. Giannis Vasiliadis, director of the WBAS, noted that available banking data can sometimes indicate potentially suspicious behaviour but does not provide sufficient evidence to conclusively determine whether transactions are linked to gambling.
Data Protection Commissioner Maria Christofidou told the committee that her office had revisited a legal opinion issued in 2022 and now believes there may be a legal basis for more detailed access to banking information. However, several MPs expressed concerns about the privacy implications of granting broader access to financial data. Lawmakers also warned that sharing such information could create social stigma for welfare recipients.
Another proposal discussed by Christofidou involved issuing GMI beneficiaries with a special identification card that would need to be presented when entering gambling venues. The suggestion was met with resistance from several MPs, who argued that such a system could unfairly label welfare recipients and expose them to discrimination.
Attention has also turned to online gambling. With around 80 per cent of gambling activity in Cyprus taking place online, officials view digital monitoring and exclusion tools as a potentially more effective method of identifying and restricting GMI recipients than attempting to track anonymous betting in physical gambling outlets.
Cyprus Safe Gaming Week
Meanwhile, Cyprus’s National Betting Authority (EAS) will host the ninth edition of its Safe Gaming Week from October 12 to 18, aimed at raising awareness about responsible gambling, with a focus on prevention, self-control and safe participation. The regulator said this year’s campaign aims to “shift the discussion from general risk to the early recognition of risks.
“With the myths of yesterday meeting the behaviours of today, this year’s campaign utilises four iconic figures from Greek mythology – Odysseas, Achilleas, Midas and Icarus – to connect different aspects of human behaviour to the way we approach play,” the authority said.
“The choice of these specific figures is not accidental. Their stories, although born centuries ago, still capture human behaviours that remain relevant: the need for self-control and foresight, the feeling that ‘it won’t happen to me’, greed and the desire for more, but also excessive self-confidence that can lead to wrong decisions. Through informative and experiential actions, EAS seeks to strengthen public awareness and cultivate a culture of safe participation, where play remains what it should be: a form of entertainment.”
