Cyprus Online Casino Licensing: Why No Such Licence Exists

Cyprus produces more licensing confusion per square kilometre than almost any jurisdiction we cover, and the reason is a mismatch between what the island is famous for and what its regulator actually does. Cyprus is a major corporate base for the gambling industry — payment firms, platform providers, affiliate networks and operator holding companies incorporate there in numbers. But corporate presence is not licensing, and the Cypriot licensing regime itself is narrow, strict, and — for online casino games — simply closed.

What the NBA actually licenses

The National Betting Authority (Εθνική Αρχή Στοιχημάτων) regulates betting under the Betting Law of 2019. It issues two licence classes: Class A for land-based betting shops and Class B for online betting. Both cover sports betting only. Online casino games — slots, roulette, blackjack, live dealer tables, online poker — are excluded from the licensable universe entirely. There is no application form, no fee schedule, no waiting list for an online casino licence in Cyprus, because the product category is prohibited.

The Class B register is correspondingly short: roughly a dozen licensed online bookmakers — international names like bet365, Stoiximan and Novibet alongside domestic operators — each with a licence number in the B-series and, distinctively, a mandatory .com.cy domain. In the Cypriot system the licence attaches to that domain; a brand's global .com site is not covered by its Cypriot licence. We mirror the full register on our Cyprus regulator page, so a search in the checker resolves a claim in seconds.

The only casino licence Cyprus issues at all is land-based: a single integrated-resort concession, supervised by the separate Cyprus Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission. It authorises physical casino floors, not websites. No online casino operates under it, and none can.

Where the "licensed in Cyprus" claims come from

When an online casino's footer says Cyprus, one of two things is almost always happening. Most commonly, the operating company is incorporated in Cyprus — it holds a Cypriot company registration (an HE-series company number), pays Cypriot corporate tax, and runs its actual gambling activity under a licence from somewhere else entirely, typically Curaçao or Anjouan. A company number is not a gambling licence. It carries no game-fairness testing, no funds-protection rules, no dispute mechanism — nothing a player can rely on.

Less commonly, the claim is simply invented, borrowing the credibility of an EU member state on the bet that nobody checks. Both cases fail the same test: if a casino claims Cyprus, ask for the Class B licence number and look for the .com.cy domain. A casino cannot produce either, because the register contains no casinos.

The blocking list: the other half of the system

The NBA doesn't just license the legal market — it actively polices the illegal one. It maintains a public blocking list of thousands of gambling domains that Cypriot internet providers are required to block, updated continuously. Many well-known international casino and betting brands appear on it, which is worth understanding correctly: a listing means the domain is not authorised for the Cypriot market, not necessarily that the operator is unsafe elsewhere. We mirror this list too, and the checker applies it with exactly that framing — a loud warning if you're checking from Cyprus, a factual market-access note if you're not.

Which EU countries do issue online casino licences

The question players ask next is the right one. If Cyprus doesn't license online casinos, the EU jurisdictions that genuinely do — each with a national regulator and a public register — include Malta (MGA), Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Portugal, Germany and Italy. We mirror the registers for all of these and rank what each licence is actually worth to a player in Casino Licences Ranked.

The honest take

Cyprus runs a small, genuinely strict online regime — for bookmakers. For casinos it runs no regime at all, and that absence is the whole point of this page. A "Cyprus licence" on a casino site is either a company registration wearing a costume or a fabrication, and in both cases the casino's real accountability lives wherever its real licence is — or nowhere. Verify the claim, not the flag: search the domain, match it to an official register, and if it can't be matched, treat the site as unlicensed, because functionally it is.

Cyprus casino licensing FAQ

Can you get an online casino licence in Cyprus?

No. The Republic of Cyprus does not issue online casino licences. The National Betting Authority (NBA) licenses online sports betting only, under a Class B licence. Online casino games — slots, roulette, blackjack, online poker — are prohibited and cannot be licensed in Cyprus.

What does a Cyprus Class B licence actually cover?

A Class B licence from the National Betting Authority covers online sports betting only, and only through a mandatory .com.cy domain. Around a dozen bookmakers hold one. It does not cover casino games in any form, and a Class B licence displayed on a casino site is not a casino licence.

Why do some casinos claim to be licensed in Cyprus?

Usually because the operating company is incorporated in Cyprus — a corporate registration (an HE company number), not a gambling licence. Their actual gambling licence, if any, is typically from Curaçao or Anjouan. Company registration and gambling licensing are different things, and a Cyprus company number provides no player protection.

Which EU countries actually issue online casino licences?

Malta, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Portugal, Germany and Italy all run national online casino licensing regimes with public registers. Cyprus is not one of them — its online regime covers sports betting only.

Is it legal to play at an online casino from Cyprus?

Online casino play is not part of the legal market in Cyprus. The NBA maintains a blocking list of thousands of gambling domains that ISPs must block, and offshore casino sites accepting Cypriot players sit outside every protection of the Cypriot system.

How do I verify a casino's licence claim?

Search the casino's domain in TopCasinoScout's free licence checker, which cross-checks it against official regulator registers we mirror — including the NBA's Class B register and the NBA blocking list. A licence claim that cannot be matched to an official register should be treated as no licence.