Online gambling in Cyprus
Cyprus is an online gambling licensing jurisdiction, and as an EEA member its licensees are afforded ‘White List’ status by the UK Gambling Commission. While not as prolific (in terms of number of licensed operators) as jurisdictions like Antigua Barbuda, Kahnawake, Costa Rica or Netherlands Antilles, whose licensees number in the hundreds, Cyprus has also become the base of choice for many payment processing companies. Many virtual wallet services, like EZIPay, whose services include processing online gambling related payments operate out of Cyprus.
In short, Cyprus’ current place in the online casino universe is a reasonably significant one. From a player’s perspective, no restrictions are imposed on the ability to access online casinos with authority’s stance towards online gambling described by a European Parliament committee study as ‘passively allowing’. This passive stance may change soon however, if statements made by Finance Minister, Charilaos Stavrakis in Cyprus Mail in March 2009 are anything to go by. Stavrakis intimated that a tougher stance on licensing, regulation and local player access could be introduced in a planned crackdown on illegal casinos (both online and terrestrial) across Cyprus.
[Update 6 July 2012]
The Cypriot parliament passed a law banning providers of online casino sites (and betting exchanges) from offering their games to players in Cypus. Greek gaming company OPAP is exempt from the ban due to a bilateral agreement between Greece & Cyprus. Online gambling operators like Betfair look set to challenge the law on the basis that is has significant inconsistencies with European Union law.
Best live casino for Cypriot players
The following casinos offer live dealer platforms tailored to Cypriot players, all offering Euro banking/account/play options and some offering Greek language capabilities.
 Casinos |  Player access |  Banking | Toll free support | Local language | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Read review | Visit | No restrictions on Cyprus player sign-ups | No deposit restrictions. Maintain account in € EURO | No | No | European based dealer room with Euro centric games. |