The government banned for-profit lotteries, but many continued to operate illegally. In the 18th century, lotteries started becoming commonplace in Switzerland. In the Middle Ages, gambling was banned based on moral and religious grounds. Throughout history, however, gambling has been mostly illegal. Therefore, it’s safe to assume the country has a complicated history in many forms of gambling, including card and dice games, race betting, and so forth. Gambling in Switzerland dates back to times of the Roman Empire.

The most famous bricks and mortar establishments are the Casino Lugano and Grand Casino of Baden. In the cities of Baden and Lugano, Swiss players can visit luxurious high-end land casino resorts combined with restaurants and hotels. The government of Switzerland does not prosecute individuals who place wagers at unlicensed online casinos, meaning the average Swiss player has loads of choices on the European market.

However, many players still place wagers at off-shore online casinos because they offer more diversity, better bonuses, plenty of games, and so forth. What’s more, the government actively aims to blacklist all foreign gambling sites who do not have a Swiss license. Nonetheless, this severely limits the number of online casinos available to Swiss players. This can be bypassed if a foreign operator engages in a partnership with an existing Swiss casino company. Meaning, it’s not possible for an operator to serve customers online if they don’t have a land casino in operation. Those who seek to form online casinos must also have a terrestrial presence on Swiss soil. All operators are legally bound to acquire their relevant license before they can serve players from Switzerland. Whereas, Casino Gaming and Poker are regulated by the Swiss Federal Gaming Board. Lotteries, Sports Betting and Bingo and regulated by Comlot.

The online gaming market is yet to take off, but this legalization should pave the way for the Swiss market to flourish further.Īfter a bit of a complicated history of gambling, Switzerland consolidated all gambling laws under the Money Gaming Act, which came to pass in 2017.Īfter the Money Gaming Act bill passed parliament, numerous gambling regulatory bodies were formed, operating as an arm of the Swiss government. Land casinos have been legal for a while, whereas online casinos were officially legalized in 2019. Swiss players will be happy to know that gambling is completely legal in Switzerland.

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