Following the official vote on June 10, 2018, and the results, which turned out to be in favour of the “Money Gaming Act”, the Swiss Government has decided to implement the new changes from the beginning of 2019. According to the new act, all local land-based casinos will have the chance to offer online versions of poker, roulette and blackjack. All approved casinos will receive a license from Switzerland’s Federal Council and will be required to pay a certain tax. The profits made from the gambling industry’s taxation will be used as a contribution to the old age pension fund. The Swiss Government has also decided to lower the risk of developing a gambling addiction by setting a reasonable maximum betting limit. For poker games, for example, the maximum bet will be CF 20,000, which is close to £154. We remind you that Switzerland’s new gambling law has been in a development stage since 2015 when the lawmakers officially submitted the bill to the Swiss Parliament. The gambling law in Switzerland has gone through a variety of changes throughout the years. In 1993 the country revoked the constitutional ban on gambling and in 2000, the Swiss land-based casinos were granted the permit to have unlimited betting limits.
The New Swiss Law Excludes Off-Shore Online Casinos
The new gambling law only allows casino corporations who operate within the country to launch their online casino websites. Foreign casino sites will not be available to Swiss players and the local Internet Service Providers will be required to restrict the access to them. However, the off-shore online casino restrictions are not only due to the Swiss Government’s concern that foreign gambling sites would not be subjects to the local taxes but also that they would potentially threaten the safety of the local players. While critics disagree, claiming that various EU countries have integrated many foreign online casinos to their local markets, the supporters of the new law insist that the foreign casino sites could not be controlled completely and that local players would be exposed to fraud. In fact, according to the Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga, the voters approved the measure and the prohibition was indeed enacted due to the fact that foreign casino sites would not contribute to the Swiss taxes or to the country’s problem gambling programs:
“Voters prefer to continue the current policy, only allowing gambling under restrictions”
Other European Countries Changed Their Gambling Law
With its recent changes of the gambling law, Switzerland joins a number of other European countries who have updated their gambling laws within the past 2 years. We remind you that all European countries, members of the European Union have the freedom to create their own gambling laws without excessive interference from the Union. For example, last year France, Spain, Portugal and Italy decided to update their gambling laws and to allow foreign online poker games to legally operate and be accessible to local players. Thus, many European countries have slowly begun to ease their gambling restrictions by making online betting more open to local players.
