Four Online Gaming Licenses Requested by Land-Based Casinos Approved by Swiss Gaming Council

Bundesrat, the Swiss National Council, has okayed four land-based casinos’ applications for iGaming licenses for the forthcoming launch of online gambling market in this country.

The new licensees are Grand Casino Baden, Casino Davos, Grand Casino Luzern and Casino Zurichsee – among the most esteemed brick-and-mortar venues in Switzerland. They applied for an extension of their gaming service licenses last year.

Last June, the Swiss population voted in favor of ratified iGaming law as proposed by the country's lawmakers on nation-wide referendum.

Big Guns Joining the Parade

The permission of the Swiss National Council was needed to be secured...

...before the gambling regulator, Eidgenössische Spielbankenkommission (ESBK), was able to fully approve each casino's application. The process of issuing new licenses will be overseen by ESBK. The goal is to distribute new permissions before June ends.

The four casinos filed in their submissions in April. The original idea was to finalize the licensing process before the end of this month but this was done ahead of time.

The Product of Vox Populi

The brand-new Gambling Act was approved thanks to a 73% majority who voted in favor during the national referendum exactly a year ago. It was followed by a very fierce debate over some controversial measures by the government of Switzerland…

...that decided to instruct internet service providers to block access to unlicensed sites and that also took foreign operators out of the gambling market equation.

This legislative piece came into effect in January. The unlicensed sites will not be blocked before July, while ESBK awaits more applications by land-based casinos to reach them.

Operators that do manage to secure gaming licenses will be allowed to offer poker and roulette services. There will be, however, strict limitations on maximum sums for poker tourneys, raffles and lotteries.

For instance, poker tournaments on a smaller scale will have a maximum on a single entry fee set to CHF200...

...while the total entry fees limit will be set at CHF20,000. Depending on the sizes of lotteries, raffles will come with limitations as well.

Conference in Zurich

June 21st will see another big event that will follow the launch of the highly anticipated Swiss online gambling market...

...the Zurich iGaming Affiliate Conference will take place that day at Sheraton Zurich Hotel and will be a great opportunity for attendees to share experiences on market trends and attend five panel talks, such as “How to create and maintain an attractive online offer.”

The other topics to be covered at these panels are “Successful affiliate marketing: how to attract online players, Belgium and Switzerland: comparing two markets,” and the fourth one will consider data protection issues, while the final one is titled, “Responsible gambling as the future of gambling.”

Source:

“Swiss National Council approves casino igaming licenses”,igamingbusiness.com, June 7, 2019.