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REGULATIONwww.euroslot-online.comIs it legal?Every month Euroslot updates you on the latest news affectinggaming policy and regulation around the worldBULGARIAThe new Bulgarian law on gaming, permitting online gambling,came into effect on 1 July.Other land-based gambling was already illegal but some operators hadexploited a loophole: the law did not specifically forbid running land-basedvenues that offered access to Internet gaming.CYPRUSThe government of Cyprus has banned most forms of onlinegaming, including poker and casino table games, saying itspurpose is to crack down on illegal operations. Only sports betting withbookmakers (but not sports betting on exchanges) and lotteries will be legal.Operators of online sportsbooks will now be required to pay a ten percent taxon net revenues, and a further three percent of gross revenues to sporting bodiesand problem gambling charities.The ban has been widely criticised, and there have been threats of a challengeat European level.Some see it as a way to give OPAP, Greece’s partially state-owned lottery andsports betting firm, an effective monopoly in Cyprus, where it is alreadypermitted to provide land-based gambling tax-free. It has been alleged thatOPAP influenced members of the Cypriot parliament to pass the new law.EUROPEEuropean commissioner for the internal market and servicesMichel Barnier has announced a number of gambling-relatedinitiatives including the relaunch of investigations into the compliance of memberstates’ laws with EU rules.Commissioner Barnier has given MEPs, some national authorities andstakeholders an outline of the upcoming commission’s communication on onlinegambling in the internal market, which will include an action plan. He advocatedEU action in the field of online gambling, given the cross-border and even globalnature of that activity and the difficulty for member states of responding alone tothe challenges that it poses.The communication will mainly seek to tackle consumer protection (includingthe prevention of under-age and problem gambling), money laundering and thefight against match fixing. In order to attain those objectives, the commission will24 JULY/AUGUST 2012 THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF THE AMUSEMENT AND STREET GAMING INDUSTRY