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About Steamtower
The ruling preserved a revenue measure the city says was designed to bring in up to €1 million according to the court’s own summary.
Andreas Braun, owner of four arcades in Wiesbaden, filed an objection and constitutional complaint against the tax rate in April last year according to local reporting. He argued that the tax rise had provided a ‘strangling’ effect to business and that it consumed operator profits.
According to a high court ruling from over a decade ago, the tax rise cannot be allowed to rise to the point of ‘consuming livelihoods’.
About Steamtower
Cyprus is not the first market to consider whether to block its welfare recipients from using their benefits to gamble, Brazil introduced a similar ban in 2025.
During a session of the House Audit Committee last Thursday, members of parliament (MPs), the Data Protection Commissioner and representatives from the Welfare Benefits Administration Service (WBAS), the Gaming & Casino Supervision Commission and the National Betting Authority (NBA) convened to discuss ways to identify and restrict gambling activity among GMI beneficiaries, as reported by Cyprus Mail.
While the intention is to protect vulnerable households and ensure welfare is spent on essential needs, proposed measures are being complicated by legal, technical and privacy obstacles.
What is Steamtower?
Crash games like Aviator have become hugely popular because they are simple to understand and fast to play. A multiplier climbs from 1x and you decide when to cash out.
The key tension in every crash game is greed versus discipline. The multiplier can crash at any moment, so the longer you wait the bigger the reward but also the bigger the risk.
Many players use a fixed cash-out target, such as 1.5x or 2x, and exit automatically every round. This removes emotion from the decision and keeps losses predictable.