Cyprus betting licenses available next month

The Cyprus National Betting Authority has announced that online sports betting licenses will be available to suitable applicants with effect from October 3rd this year.

This positive development for the industry is however somewhat clouded by the tough tax and licensing fees set for successful applicants:

* On application, operators must have Euro 500,000 in paid up capital, and produce bank guarantees of Euro 550,000;

* There’s a Euro 30,000 licensing fee for a one-year licence, discounted to Euro 45,000 for a two-year licence;

* Tax based on GGR of 10 percent p.a.

* Regulator’s fee of 3 percent of GGR.

The good news is that the regulator does not demand that operators base themselves in Cyprus, although they will be required to have a mirror server on the island to enable the regulator (and presumably the taxman) to keep an eye on things in real time. Operators must also use a local domain extension.

Operators are expected to respect international bans by conducting their own compliance checks on where they may access markets