About this app
About Retro Tapes
Atucha praises the regulation and the regulators themselves for making entry into the market easy, as well as allowing them to be competitive against illegal operators. But the market hasn’t been without its challenges.
A 1% selective consumption tax (ISC) on the value of every online bet has been in force since 1 July 2025, after the original policy was scrapped from proposed regulations in July 2021.
Atucha warns that regulations are often perceived as operator-friendly at the start before governments begin looking to squeeze licensed sectors, likening the process to “boiling a frog”. He has observed similar scenarios in other LatAm markets, with tax increases occurring in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico in the last couple of years.
What is Retro Tapes?
Lawmakers and regulators in Cyrpus have been debating methods to prevent recipients of the Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) from using state welfare payments for gambling.
The GMI, know locally as EEE, is described as a “residual payment to guarantee and legal minimum income for all residents”.
Anyone residing in Cyprus, with income not high enough to support their basic needs, is eligible for the benefit.
About Retro Tapes
The two sides reached a settlement in 2014, but that agreement also fell apart, and the casino companies renewed their claims.
Ultimately, the gamble backfired.
Arbitrators found against the companies and ordered them to pay millions of dollars toward Laos’ legal costs and expenses.
