Swiss Lottery and Betting Board Rebrands to Gespa

Switzerland’s Lottery and Betting Board that was previously known as Comlot is now rebranded as Gespa.

Gespa has acquired all of Comlot’s rights and responsibilities, such as large-scale gambling monitoring, which includes sports betting and lotteries in this country.

With the Start of the New Year

The change was officially in effect on January 1st…

…once the Swiss Geldspiel Konkordat act replaced the Intercantonal Convention on Licensing and Supervision of Intercantonal and National Lotteries and Bets.

This came after the Federal Act on Real-Money Gaming was introduced, outlawing any unlicensed and illicit activity, permitting land-based casinos to secure iGaming licenses from January 1st 2019.

Switzerland’s cantons were, after this implementation, given a two year window to adapt their local gambling laws to the new federal framework.

The Membership

Six members make the Gespa’s board of directors…

…which includes the president, as well as two members each from French and German speaking parts of Switzerland. There is also one member from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.

Comlot’s former commissioners have become members of the Gespa supervisory board, while the former Comlot secretariat is now the new entity’s office.

Along with making sure the players in Switzerland may partake in a safe and socially responsible environment when it comes to lotteries, sports betting and skill-based games, Gespa has also the responsibility of battling the illicit gambling by blacklisting the unlicensed online operators’ websites.

The Tax Money Invested

Gespa will also be in charge of preventing any sports manipulation as it acts as a reporting office and ensures the flow of information between domestic and foreign authorities, sports organizations and gambling operators.

The institution will also be tasked with compiling annual statistics on a large and small-scale gambling, and report on the revenues from sports betting and lotteries use.

December’s results have shown that Swiss cantons generated $623.5 million in revenue made in 2019 and distributed it to good causes, with arts and culture, sports and historical buildings preservation being their main recipients.

Source:

“Swiss regulator Comlot rebrands as Gespa”, igamingbusiness.com, January 5th, 2021.