Online Gaming Legislation: Towards Change?

Leisure – online gambling

Swiss citizen, you are acting illegally if you play online poker, under the Gaming Houses Act (GMA) of 1998 which prohibits the operation of gambling (including poker!) on the Internet.

However, under the impetus of the Federal Gaming Commission (CFMJ), the Swiss Federal Council has undertaken to relax the ban on the exploitation of games of chance online, calling poker game of skillThe distinction is subtle: if poker tournaments became skill games, this would allow them to fall under the jurisdiction of the cantons and be legalized throughout Switzerland, including outside of gambling houses. Concessions of around ten years were to be granted, including on the Internet, but always within the limits of cantonal law, to better monitor and tax these games. It should be noted that in return for a license, a casino operator is taxed between 40% and 80%…

Is the door to the end of the casino monopoly closing? In a May 2010 ruling, the Federal Court ruled that "only gaming houses (with a concession) are authorized to offer poker tournaments open to the public on a professional basis." In short, online poker rooms remain prohibited since poker in all its variations is indeed a game of chance and the organization of poker games outside of casinos remains prohibited.

So it's only a postponement for play poker online. Because the defenders of virtual casinos in Switzerland are not giving up, even if the proposed conditions seem drastic: they will have to be based in Switzerland and pay gambling taxes there. This is difficult for large gaming operators, who are often based in Malta or Gibraltar. They will be subject to the same rules as brick-and-mortar casinos, will have to purchase a concession, and will only be able to open accounts for Swiss residents...

Land-based casinos still have a bright future ahead of them, and it's probably no coincidence that four competitors are currently vying for the concession of a new casino in Neuchâtel. Among them is the French group Barrière, which already owns the casinos in Fribourg and Courrendlin, as well as the one in Montreux, considered the most profitable in the country...

So while waiting for the next twist, enthusiasts can still visit land-based casinos or play free poker with friends in private. Indeed, betting money in a poker tournament, even through poker players' associations, remains prohibited.