Minimum Guaranteed Income Goes to Casinos? Cyprus Prepares Blockade

The Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) is intended to help individuals and families who lack sufficient funds for basic needs. Meanwhile, information about beneficiaries using casinos and betting shops has appeared before the Parliamentary Audit Committee, and the gambling regulator indicates increased activity around the time the benefit is paid.

Authorities are therefore considering blocking EEE beneficiaries from playing in casinos and legal online betting. Technical solutions already exist or are readily available, but legal changes and safeguards regarding personal data are needed.

More play during EEE payday

Harris Tsangarides, executive director of the Gambling and Casino Supervisory Commission, informed MPs that From 2023, an increase in gambling activity is observed in the period corresponding to the EEE payment, i.e. approximately in the middle of the month.

It was these observations that prompted the regulator to talk to the Welfare Benefits Administration Service about the possibility of checking whether a person wishing to receive a player's card is a beneficiary of the benefit.

However, an important distinction must be made. Bank details currently available to law enforcement agencies may indicate suspicious activity, but they do not, in and of themselves, constitute proof that a specific individual used EEE funds for gambling.

Minimum Guaranteed Income and the Casino: A Yes or No Answer Is Enough

The system under consideration would be relatively simple.

When issuing a player card, the ID number would be automatically checked against the benefits system. would not receive a list of beneficiaries or detailed social information – the system would only return an answer as to whether a given person is receiving EEE.

The regulator and social services claim that a technical solution for such data comparison has already been found. The remaining challenges include creating an appropriate legal basis and ensuring the system complies with privacy regulations.

Currently, the EEE download itself does not automatically result in a person being deemed financially vulnerable within the meaning of gambling regulations. This is one of the loopholes that parliamentarians are discussing.

Online betting can be locked faster

The situation is even simpler in the case of legal online gambling.

Since February 2024, the National Betting Authority has been operating a nationwide self-exclusion platform that allows players to be blocked from all licensed online betting sites operating in the Republic of Cyprus.

The office representative told the committee that, from a technical perspective, EEE beneficiaries could be included in such a system even on the same day that the relevant regulations would come into force.

According to data presented at the meeting, around eight in ten gamblers now use online betting.

However, regulators point out a side risk: too far-reaching restrictions in the legal system may direct some people to illegal operators or casinos operating in the occupied north.

A special card instead of a regular paycheck?

A more radical idea was also put on the table: paying out EEE on a special social card that would allow for restrictions on withdrawing cash or using money in certain places.

Data Protection Commissioner Maria Christofidou indicated that such a solution is technically possible, but the card should not in any way "mark" the beneficiary or lead to stigmatization. Some MPs also have doubts about the practical operation of such a system.

The discussion did not end with any decision to immediately block casinos or bookmaker accounts. For now, these are just suggestionsfor which a legal basis must be created.

Source: National Betting Authority, Gambling and Casino Supervisory Commission, Welfare Benefits Administration Service, Cyprus Mail, Politis, Philenews