Earlier this week, a total of four Swiss casino operator began filing applications to offer online slots and table games thus setting the pace for possible launch in the summer. The Federal Gaming Board (ESPK), the country’s regulator, reportedly received online casino license applications from the licensed operators of land-based Grand Casino Baden, Grand Casino Davos, Grand Casino Lucerne, and Casino Zurischsee venues.
If their licenses are approved, the four operators will be the very first online casinos under Switzerland’s new regulatory regime that are expected to go by as soon as July. The process will, however, not only involve the Federal Gaming Board’s (Eidgenössische Spielbankenkommission, ESBK) input but will also put into consideration a review of each of the four petitions by the Federal Council. In fact, the federal board will play a monumental role in the success or failure of the process as it is expected to deliver an announcement by the end of June on whether the four land-based casinos should be allowed to proceed with the launch of the online gaming operations.
If the Federal Council announcement gives the green light for the launch of the online gambling operations, Swiss players will be able to begin enjoying a ton of online casino games as early as July 1. All of the games that will be on offer will also have to be reviewed and certified by the Federal Gaming Board to ensure that they match up to the standards of the gaming industry – this process is also expected to be complete by mid-June.
The Rules and Regulations
Last summer, Switzerland approved a new gambling law in a national referendum and the new law requires that all online gambling games are technically certified and that the technology partners of the online gaming operators have good reputations – this technically means the proposed technology partners should not have been serving gamblers in the country without local permission in the past five years.
After the approval of the new gambling laws last summer, the four licensed casino operators went out of their way to find suitable international technology partners. As at now, Casino Zurichsee operators Swiss Casinos has signed a partnership deal with UK-listed casino technology provider Playtech. Casino Davos, on the other hand, teamed up with Ardent Group, an international gaming technology provider based in Belgium.
Also, worth noting is that as from July 1, the local internet service providers in Switzerland will be required to block the domains of all the international gaming operators that will still be serving Swiss customers. This is perhaps because of the country’s plan to give Swiss -licensed online gambling operators a six-year exclusivity window within which they will be able to build strong relationships the games before any of the interested international standalone online gaming operators are allowed to apply for licenses.
