Official language: Greek, Turkish
Population: 801,600
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Current Exchange Rate
1 GBP = 1.0681 EUR
1 USD = 0.6754 EUR
Casinos in Cyprus
In 1975, the Cypriot government passed a law that made gambling halls legal in Cyprus. The gambling boom was slow to take off and it was not until the mid 1990s that gambling at casinos started to become popular. In 1997, gambling was made illegal in neighboring Turkey, which gave the gambling industry in Cyprus a huge boost as anyone in Turkey who wanted to gamble legally looked to Cyprus and their casinos. The casinos are also popular with Israeli and European players.
All of the casinos in Cyprus are located in the north, in the Turkish region. Greek Cypriots living in the south must head north to gamble. Hundreds of thousands of Greek Cypriots visit North Cyprus each year to play in the casinos, spending millions of Euros annually. This has led the south to consider opening casinos of their own, but the topic is still being hotly debated.
Online Casinos in Cyprus
Online casinos in Cyprus are a whole different story. The Cypriot government gives out licenses to foreign companies to run online gambling sites, including internet casinos. Dozens of internet casinos are licensed by the Cypriot government and are hosted in Cyprus. It is one of the few 'safe havens' in the world where online casinos are located.
The local Cypriot internet casino scene is somewhat different. Players in Cyprus definitely gamble on the internet, and spend €100 million each year, mostly at international online casinos. There are only a handful of internet casinos that offer services in Greek and/or Turkish, but there are quite a few English language that accept players from Cyprus, so that remains a good option for online gambling in Cyprus.
