In a development that signals a temporary but significant retreat, the Cypriot Parliament today postponed the scheduled vote on a controversial bill seeking to exempt casinos from the €10,000 cap on cash transactions. According to sources speaking to FastForward, the proposal will now be considered in a future plenary session, possibly in one week from now. The postponement of the vote suggests that pressure from regulators, opposition parties, as well as media reports, is starting to have an effect.

The delay follows mounting pressure from financial regulators, legal bodies, and anti-money laundering watchdogs, all of whom reiterated their strong opposition to the bill through official memoranda submitted to Parliament in recent days.

The legislative amendment, which seeks to lift the €10,000 cash limit specifically for casinos, sparked outrage when it was fast-tracked just three months after Cyprus passed a universal cash cap law in December 2024. That law brought the country in line with EU regulations aimed at tackling money laundering, tax evasion, and illicit financial flows.

Supporters of the casino exemption—including the Ministry of Finance and the Deputy Ministry of Tourism—argue that the industry is heavily regulated, and that removing the cash cap is necessary to ensure competitiveness. They claim that strict limits on cash use have negatively impacted casino operations, where 94% of all transactions are conducted in cash.

But critics warn that the exemption opens the door to abuse and undermines both recent reforms and upcoming EU regulation. From 2027, EU Regulation 2024/1624 will impose strict cash limits across all member states, without exceptions for high-risk sectors like casinos.

Ahead of the now-postponed vote, the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions had requested updated positions from key regulatory authorities. What they received was a near-unanimous chorus of concern.

MOKAS, the Unit for Combating Money Laundering, stood firmly against the exemption, warning of well-documented risks linked to cash usage. Head of the unit Maria Kyrmizi-Antoniou emphasized that large cash flows at casinos create opportunities for money laundering, noting that 25–30% of suspicious transaction reports submitted to MOKAS in 2023–2024 involved casino cash transactions. She also flagged the lack of an updated national AML risk assessment covering casinos, which weakens the case for any exceptions.

The Tax Commissioner, Sotiris Markides, also opposed the bill, calling it a matter of principle. In a memo shared with the committee and the Ministry of Finance, he stressed that increasing cash usage would fuel both tax evasion and money laundering. “Our consistent position is to minimize cash transactions to the greatest extent possible,” he said.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and its Chair George Theocharides expressed legal reservations about the proposal’s compatibility with EU law. Citing Article 63 of Regulation 2024/1624, which explicitly prohibits exemptions for high-risk sectors like casinos, CySEC argued that such an exception would erode the law’s purpose and violate the principle of equal treatment.

The Cyprus Bar Association, through representative Pantelis Christofides, warned that the bill violates constitutional principles by granting favorable treatment to one sector over others—lawyers, architects, auditors, and other regulated professionals are all still subject to the cash cap. The exemption could thus invite legal challenges on the basis of inequality under Article 28 of the Constitution.

The Central Bank of Cyprus also weighed in against the exemption, noting that despite not being the direct regulator of casinos, it had a duty to safeguard the country’s financial stability and international reputation. In its memo, the Bank warned that the proposal undermines AML policy and exposes Cyprus to increased reputational risk.

Even the Legal Service of the Republic echoed these concerns, aligning itself with the positions of CySEC, the Bar Association, and the Bankers’ Association.