From Online-Casinos – The financial situation in the heart of Europe is changing quickly and the decline in disposable income and the liberalization of online gambling in nations such as Italy and France are having their effect on casinos in Switzerland.
Switzerland is not a member of the EU, so has a free hand to determine its own laws.
Historically, democracy has been widely decentralized in the nation of less than eight million people, with almost all serious issues decided by referendum.
New laws regarding online gambling will be drafted by the Department of Justice and Police in cooperation with the representatives of each Swiss Canton, with the drafts being made available for consultation and review in the second half of 2013. In an extensive report published in 2009 the Federal Gaming Board concluded that “virtual gambling should be liberalized, and apart from such liberalization, illegal operation of these games should be more effectively curtailed through further measures.”
The decline in Gross revenue for Switzerland’s 21 casinos was 24 percent last year compared with 2008. Much of the reduction in casino revenues is attributed to the decline in Italian gamblers who once took the short trip from Italy to the many terrestrial casinos in Switzerland. Italian’s are also gravitating to online casinos that don’t require travel away from home. The influence of internet casinos and card rooms has had an impact in Switzerland which has been surviving the economic crunch better than most European countries.
The Swiss 1998 gaming law prohibits online poker and all online gambling but there is no enforcement capability in the law which means that Swiss poker players have had no difficulty playing at the sites of all the major online gambling operators.
