More sports betting licenses issued in Cyprus

Cyprus regulator the National Betting Authority (NBA) has issued two more online sports betting licenses, awarding them to Betfair in the Paddy Power Betfair group and Meridian Gaming (CY) Ltd, a local company that operates Meridianbet.com.cy.

The latest licenses make a total of five full permits issued by the regulator; the others are held by Stoiximan, Bet365 and BetOnAlfa. However, eight transitional licenses issued late last year are reportedly still in force and cover major companies operating brands like Sportingbet and Winmaster.

The Cyprus government has instituted a vigorous blacklist and blocking campaign against unlicensed operators, blocking over 2,500 domains thus far.

By international standards, the Cyprus licensing fees and taxation are quite reasonable: operators pay an annual fee of Euro 30,000 and total tax on GGR of 13 percent, broken down as 10 percent to government, 2 percent to local sports development and 1 percent to responsible gambling initiatives. Operators are required to demonstrate that they have at least Euro 500,000 in capital reserves.

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