SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Planzer and Florian Furger, PLANZER LAW
cable in principle as of January 2025. They are set to run for a 20-year period. The new casinos in Winterthur and Lausanne are expected to open shortly. By contrast, the licence of the casino in St Moritz was revoked as of mid-2025 as the licence holder decided to discontinue its opera- tions. On 19 November 2025, the federal government discussed the issue of the revoked licence, postponed the re-opening of an application window, and instruct- ed the ESBK to develop recommendations regarding the further course of action concerning this licence. The ESBK is expected to provide these recommenda- tions as part of its overall evaluation of the casino sec- tor by autumn 2028. Furthermore, the licence for the Schaffhausen region was not allocated in the licensing process. The future of these licensing regions remains unclear, but is also likely to be addressed by autumn 2028 at the latest. Social Gaming Some online social games have experienced major success. In Switzerland, such games are not addressed directly by regulation. Under certain condi- tions, they can fall under the category of large-scale games. According to Article 3 (e) of the Gaming Act, large-scale games include lotteries, sports betting, and games of skill that are carried out automatically, inter-cantonally, or online. If the social game at hand included game features that involve both considera- tion and prizes, it would require a licence from Gespa. Free gaming features, by contrast, do not require a Esports have grown tremendously around the world. The question of whether esports are sports is the subject of much discussion, including in Switzerland, where the regulatory authorities have not taken a final stance on the issue of esports. Gespa published a statement online in which it noted that neither a gen- eral definition of esports nor an overall qualification under the Gaming Act could be provided. The author- ity argued that esports may have characteristics of gaming and gambling, as well as sports. The Federal Office of Sport (BASPO) takes the view that esports do not currently qualify as an official licence. Esports
sport, as they are not understood as sports in the gen- eral social perception. In BASPO’s view, esports were also in conflict with the Sports Promotion Act ( Sport- förderungsgesetz ), Article 1 of which sets out the aim of sports promotion as being to increase sports and exercise activities. The Intercantonal Gambling Supervision (Gespa) pub- lished a statement online in which it noted that neither a general definition of esports nor an overall qualifi- cation under the Gaming Act could be provided. The authority argued that esports may have characteris- tics of gambling and playing games as well as sports. In an initial statement, Gespa stated that esports events are usually considered to be skill-based gam- ing in terms of the Gaming Act within the meaning of Article 3 letter a) and d), provided that a stake of monetary value must be paid and prices are available. However, Gespa continues, such events only require a licence, if they are held on an intercantonal, auto- mated or online basis. The qualification of an esports event as a sports com- petition would have the consequence that the event would automatically be excluded from the scope of the Gaming Act, falling under one of its exemptions (Article 1 Paragraph 2 letter c) BGS). The SIEA (Swiss Interactive Entertainment Associa- tion) and the SESF (Swiss Esports Federation) clearly reject the classification of esports activities as games of skill in the sense of the Gaming Act. In their view, esports conducted in tournaments, cups, individual events or league structures should be regarded as a competitive sporting activity and thus exempted from Fantasy sports are not addressed directly by the Gaming Act. According to Article 3 (d) of the Gam- ing Act, skill games are games in which the outcome depends entirely or predominantly on the skill of the player. If the predominance of skill in a daily fantasy sports game can be shown, it is likely to qualify as a large-scale game under Swiss law or, more precisely, as an online skill game that requires an authorisation from Gespa. the Gaming Act. Fantasy Sports
506 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook