Cyprus to regulate bingo games

The government confirmed that it’s aiming to regulate bingo gambling in the country.

Cyprus.- Harris Georgiades, Finance Minister of Cyprus, confirmed that the country is preparing a legislation in order to regulate bingo activity. The official said that whilst bingo would continue after regulations, they need to secure national interest and social benefit.

By regulating bingo, the government would seek national interest in the game as well as social benefit, as it is considered to have an annual turnover of approximately US$120 million in Cyprus. “It is an activity whose turnover, according to estimates, exceeds €100m per year but has been done in a completely unregulated way,” said the Minister.

Georgiades also confirmed that the government has submitted to parliament a measure that aims at privatising the state lottery and bring the entity under control of the betting authority of Cyprus. He also confirmed that parliament is considering another bill that wants to regulate games offered by gambling monopoly OPAP.

Back in October, the National Betting Authority (NBA) annoynced that it would conduct a quantitative survey to assess Cypriot gamblers’ habits. The survey records gambling habits (frequency of participation, behaviour, characteristics) of people engaging the activity in order to determine protective policies to prevent gambling problems.