The government of Cyprus says it expects a casino legalization bill to be ready for introduction the end of this month and licenses issued by spring 2015.
“We have completed the policy document and legislation is being prepared at this moment to be submitted to parliament by the end of May,” Tourism Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said.
In October, a meeting between government officials and interested stakeholders resulted in a plan for a single resort-scale casino supported by two smaller satellite casinos, with the main license to be awarded through an open tender process.
The Cyprus Tourism Organization forecasts the market will generate annual revenues for the state of €35 million-€50 million and provide badly needed jobs for the Mediterranean island nation, whose heavily indebted government was bailed out by the EU in the wake of the global financial crisis.
