Rejections to Cypriot Gambling Laws Were Deliberate

In a fiery speech relating to online gambling, the former Cypriot finance minister, Charilaos Stavrakis has ridiculed certain MP’s in the country for deliberately voting against bids to legalize online gaming, in the latest Cyprus gambling news reports.

Mr. Stavrakis’ claim comes after a bill allowing only betting with coupons, effectively banning internet gambling in Cyprus was prepared by the ministry, and approved by the Cypriot Parliament.

It is a bitter blow to online gaming in Cyprus, and a change for the worse in Cypriot gambling laws, feels Mr. Stavrakis. Although he feels he knows exactly who to point the finger of blame at. In his book, he specified that “I was especially annoyed with the quality of arguments heard in parliament, because it gave the impression that some people’s sole aim was to obstruct.”

Illegal gambling is at a high in Cyprus, and Mr. Stavrakis made it his agenda to regulate the industry, which could have had potentially massive benefits, financially and economically for the country.

“As soon as we started examining our options at the ministry, parliament, on its own initiative, started looking into the issue of illegal gambling. This conjecture, which was excessive, created pressure that did not make the effort easier,” he added.

Stavrakis claims to have been approached by a former minister, and many businessmen who look set to lose out with the new ban against online casinos in Cyprus and other online gambling ventures. The bill to regulate illegal gambling was put forward to House Legal Affairs Committee. It wasn’t soon after however, that Mr. Stavrakis feels that MP’s turned on it.

“However, to my great surprise, I saw that certain deputies started – with various legalistic and other arguments – a campaign to reject or delay the effort,” he continued. Currently the future of the bill remains undecided, though Mr. Stavrakis is quite clearly incensed by what he considers to be a direct block of his bill, with irrelevant legal arguments made forth by the Cypriot MPs.