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Since 2019, Switzerland has had a new casino law. Foreign online casinos are not allowed to operate in Switzerland. Nevertheless, they continue to attract customers – successfully.
It’s about a lot of money: In total, the casinos in Switzerland turned over 635 million Swiss francs last year. The winnings paid out to customers have already been deducted. In addition, around 200 million francs flow abroad via illegal online casinos every year, estimates Marc Friedrich, Managing Director of the Swiss Casino Association.
This number cannot be verified, since the extent of an illegal sector cannot, of course, be measured exactly. But: “This means that the approved Swiss online casinos are losing sales. Players are not protected. And the AHV has no taxes.”
Legend:
Every year, the AHV receives a substantial sum from the sales of legal games of chance.
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According to Friedrich, the trend is clear: “Illegal online casinos are increasing.” Not all gambling offered online is illegal. Since 2019, the new Gambling Act has explicitly stipulated that Swiss casinos may legally offer online gambling here. There are currently eleven such online casinos.
Each is affiliated with a physical Swiss casino and is subject to the same strict rules; when investigating money laundering, or when it comes to monitoring gamblers who are at risk of addiction. According to the association, the online casinos employ a total of around 260 employees to carry out such work.
Marc Friedrich from the Casino Association is frustrated because domestic and foreign online platforms have different lengths of the game when it comes to wooing customers who love to gamble.
«The Swiss online casinos have a permit here and have to comply with the legislation. They are controlled by the Swiss supervisory authority. You can’t grab the foreign illegal providers here. They are based in Malta or Curaçao. You pay no taxes to Switzerland. And in the end they can do whatever they want.”
problem of double jeopardy
Supervisor Thomas Fritschi also finds this annoying. But: “The problem is the double criminal liability.” Because in their own countries, the online games are not illegal. “For example, Malta or Gibraltar will not support us in such legal cases.”
Many online casinos are deliberately based in Malta, Gibraltar or Curaçao. From there they are allowed to run their business worldwide. From the point of view of these countries, this is perfectly legal. The fact that these services are banned when they are offered in Switzerland does not deter the online casinos there.
The casino commission can’t do much, at most negotiate with the seat states: “At best, an increase in international cooperation in this area would be helpful to improve the situation. But the complete elimination of all illegal providers on the Internet seems unrealistic even then.”
Since the new gambling law came into force in 2019, part of online gambling has shifted from the illegal to the legal area. However, another part remains illegal. And that will hardly change.