Cyprus Bookies Support New Gambling Proposals

The Cyprus Mail reports that two leading betting companies from Cyprus made a proposal for a new law governing gambling. For the moment the law is being drafted but aims for reduced taxes and to eliminate the opening up of the market, giving other operators the opportunity to stage races. Also, with the new law foreign bets will be permitted.

"Loukis Ioannou of Megabet declared for the Cyprus Mail, 'this legislation should have already been introduced. It's good for the market and in my opinion; the main aim is to stop illegal betting, which is the main problem in our industry.'

"…The General Manager of Royal Highgate, Yiannakis Pavlides joined Ioannou and supported the new legislation proposal by saying:

“By reducing tax, illegal betting will be clamped down on. We are the only country in the EU with such high taxes, for example the 25 per cent on football bets drives people underground. I totally support the abolishing of the taxes and also the idea of making bets on foreign horse races, as this will give more opportunities to players, who won't have to go online. Currently we only have a certain amount of games available to players, but if the law is more flexible we will have the opportunity to launch new games and bets.'" …