SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Planzer and Florian Furger, PLANZER LAW
1. Introduction 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes On 1 January 2019, a new Gaming Act and four relat- ed ordinances entered into effect: • the Gaming Ordinance; • the Casino Ordinance; and • two anti-money laundering ordinances. The enforcement measures against unlicensed opera- tors became applicable on 1 July 2019. Under the new Act, only domestic casinos and lotter- ies can legally operate online games of chance. These incumbent operators, however, can co-operate with international B2Bs and B2Cs, provided that certain requirements are met. The past licences for both bricks-and-mortar and online casinos expired at the end of 2024. As of Octo- ber 2025, 19 casinos offer casino games in bricks- and-mortar locations, ten of which also offer online games. Two bricks-and-mortar casinos are at the starting blocks and should shortly open their doors to the public. There is continued and substantial interest in business co-operation from international B2Bs and B2Cs as well as domestic casinos. This is not surprising, given the high value of Swiss online players. Furthermore, the new Swiss gaming regula- tion has proved to be reliable, notably in its approach towards responsible gaming, and it has not adopted new advertising restrictions. Accordingly, the oppor- tunities in a market with only a few licensed offerings are substantial. The Gaming Act is being evaluated as of 2025 under the supervision of the Federal Department of Justice and Police. The aim of the evaluation is to analyse and assess the effectiveness and impact of the new regulation, which came into force in 2019. In particular, the evaluation aims to determine whether the exist- ing legal provisions and their implementation fulfil the objectives of the regulation. The evaluation covers the following three topics:
• effects of the new regulation in the area of the legal gaming market and effectiveness of the current regulations for selected games; • effectiveness of the protection of players from the dangers posed by gaming; and • effectiveness of the measures to combat the illegal gaming market. The report of the evaluation is currently expected to be published in the second half of 2026. Recent Changes The legislative change in 2019 constituted a complete overhaul of the legislative framework, replacing the formerly applicable Casino Act and Lottery Act with the new Gaming Act ( Geldspielgesetz ). For the first time, legislation was passed that comprehensively addresses both bricks-and-mortar and remote forms of gaming as well as skill gaming. As a consequence, the cantons (regions) also had to pass implementing legislation at regional level. COVID-19 restrictions heavily impacted the bricks- and-mortar revenues during the pandemic but have since recuperated. By contrast, those casinos already operating an online platform were able to rely on these revenues. While elsewhere in Europe regulators abruptly imposed restrictions on advertising, this was not the case in Switzerland. In February 2021, a new president of the Federal Gaming Board (ESBK), Fabio Abate, took office, and in April 2022 a new director, Thomas Fritschi, took office at the same authority. The ESBK is a two-tier authority with the full-time secretariat headed by a director and the part-time commission headed by a president. The licences of the 21 incumbent bricks-and-mortar casinos expired at the end of 2024. Incumbent casi- nos, as well as new applicants, had submitted their applications by the deadline at the end of October 2022. In total, 29 licence applications for terrestrial casino licences and 12 applications for online licenc- es were submitted. Upon the recommendation of the ESBK, the federal government granted 22 casino licences on 29 November 2023, which became appli-
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