Chocolate and casinos: Swiss gambling laws

Monday, 18 Feb, 2013

Swiss gambling laws are beginning to change and during this year, they might allow online casinos. Internet gambling has been banned by Swiss laws since the year 2000, when a gambling bill that allowed land-based casinos but not online gambling was passed. Nevertheless, no official penalty or tax has been imposed on off-shore online casinos since then.

Financial speculations place Swiss gamblers’ total expenditure at €0.3 billion per year for online casinos, which is €36 per capita. This made lawyers and the Swiss Federal Administration consider coming up with a new gambling legislation that would allow online gambling.

The new bill will put an end to the ban on internet casinos as well as include licenses for online operators and impose a tax on gambling revenues that will be used to fund cultural, social and sporting activities within the country.

The Swiss Federal Department of Justice is working together with the 26 Swiss cantons to reach a final agreement and come up with a proposition on licensing online gambling and establishing a regulatory condition similar to land-based casinos.