The gaming industry in Cyprus is growing rapidly thanks to Russian companies
Cyprus has become one of the world’s leaders in the development of the gaming industry. In 2025, there were 415 companies operating on the island, with combined revenue exceeding 3.2 billion euros.
In terms of the number of game development studios, revenue, and mobile downloads per capita, Cyprus outperformed Finland, Spain, and Serbia, among others. The industry’s rapid growth is largely attributed to the presence of Russian companies.
The gaming industry’s contribution to Cyprus’s GDP grew from approximately 300 million to 1.15 billion euros between 2019 and 2024, reaching 3.3% of the country’s economy.
One of the reasons for this growth has been favorable tax conditions. In particular, the IP Box regime allows the effective corporate tax rate to be reduced to approximately 3%, and the R&D super-deduction program allows for a 120% deduction on development expenses. Highly qualified employees are also eligible for a 50% income tax discount for up to 17 years.
This has been reported by Russian media.
Russians are suspected of being involved in a €124 million online casino scheme in Ukraine.
The state agency “PlayCity” has officially begun direct cooperation with the video-sharing platform YouTube to combat the illegal promotion of gambling. The new cooperation mechanism allows for the rapid detection and blocking of content that violates Ukrainian gambling laws.
