Article – Beware of illegal gambling

Gambling at non-licenced establishments or websites and on slot machines is an offence

Gambling is a type of gaming that offers entertainment and/or profit to the player. Regulating betting activity by law and regulations, is necessary, in order for the players to be protected, both in terms of collecting potential winnings, as well as avoiding punishments from engaging in illegal betting activity.

To begin with, a player must know which games are legal, according to Cypriot legislation.  Legal games are the games of chance provided by OPAP Cyprus (such as Kino, Joker, Propo etc.), the state lottery, the private or small lottery tickets that are issued by obtaining a relevant licence, horse races that have been authorised by the Nicosia Race Club, as well as all the games that will be provided in the casino-resort that is  planned to be built, and will be supervised by the National Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission. In contrast,  if gambling is carried out on a mechanical, electrical or other device, for which the player must pay in cash or tokens to play in order to make a profit, it is considered illegal, regardless of the type of game (i.e. slot machines, poker, horse-racing or other racing games, bingo etc.). Online casinos, betting exchanges, spread bets, dog races are also illegal, as is betting in premises or on websites that have not been licensed by the National Betting Authority.

Players must also be aware that they offend the law when they play on websites without submitting valid identification, residence and e-mail information. Also, it is an offence for any individual to encourage or allow a minor to engage in gambling or to enter in an establishment that provides betting services.

If you participate in betting activity, it is important to ensure that the establishment providing class A betting services (land-based betting), or the provider of class B betting services (online betting) are operating legally. The lists, both of the licensed establishments and the licensed online betting providers, can be found on the website of the National Betting Authority (www.nba.com.cy), which is responsible for the supervision and regulation of betting activity in Cyprus. At the same time, the NBA’s website also provides a list of the websites that have been blocked by the Authority and which are not licensed, and therefore provide illegal gambling services (blocking.nba.com.cy).

For more information on responsible gaming, visit www.responsiblegaming.gov.cy.