The Cyprus National Betting Authority head Ioanna Fiakkou informed MPs March 13 that betting activity leaped 22 percent in 2022 from the previous year, to €959 million.
She noted that last year the state collected €11.75 million in taxes, some of which it will give to the Cyprus Sports Organization, to sports federations and the Cyprus Football Association. The authority will keep 1 percent of the taxes to run programs fighting gambling addiction.
The share of licensed betting shops as a percentage of GDP rose from 0.99 percent in 2016 to 3.55 percent last year.
Fiakkou said the authority will soon unveil a “self-exclusion” platform that was developed in tandem with the ministries of health and labor. It will, for example, ban welfare recipients from games of chance.
