Switzerland to block foreign online Casinos

[Naok777]

And yet another country goes down the route of excessive restrictions on online gambling:

Swiss voters have overwhelmingly backed a new gambling law which will block foreign betting sites.

The new Gambling Act won the support of 72.9% of voters, according to final results, despite accusations that the law amounts to online censorship.

Due to take effect in 2019, the act, which will be one of the strictest in Europe, allows only Swiss-certified casinos and gaming firms to operate.

The government says it is designed to tackle gambling addiction.

Both houses of parliament have already passed the legislation.

While the bill will let Swiss companies offer online gambling for the first time, it will also block all foreign betting sites in the country, something opponents say amounts to "censorship of the internet".

Various youth wings from political parties garnered the 50,000 signatures necessary to stage the referendum in an attempt to overturn the act.

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[nikantw]

I saw this yesterday

Voters give clear thumbs up for reform of Swiss gambling law

It is "funny" how they want to "protect" addicted people by making them lose their money faster (more taxes, worst conditions)!

 

[sufferinsilence]

Basically the same laws as in Belgium. It's not all bad in terms of player protection but in terms of censorship I agree.

 

[nikantw]

Basically the same laws as in Belgium. It's not all bad in terms of player protection but in terms of censorship I agree.

I don't know the specific laws in any of those countries but I am pretty sure it is bad.
Any special tax on gambling (other than simple income tax) means that you lose more --> increased chances to become a problem for everybody.
Any protection of local market (monopoly) means worst services --> more danger.
Any censorship/ban will drive people to unregulated/rogue options --> even more danger.

Just read the articles, what the government officials say. "We will take money from gambling for social security" they say, as if it is the pocket change of some rich people and not the pension of some poor old guy.
They don't know any better or they do but take advantage of Gambling Stigma to take money from someone that is afraid to talk and nobody will defend.

Recently the European Commission announced that they will no longer deal with gambling monopolies in EU, leaving the people completely unprotected (up to now countries could have a gambling monopoly but only under strict gambling restriction policy). Some say it is because of Brexit and the fact that UK was the only voice of reason in the European Commission.

 

[sufferinsilence]

I don't know the specific laws in any of those countries but I am pretty sure it is bad.
Any special tax on gambling (other than simple income tax) means that you lose more --> increased chances to become a problem for everybody.
Any protection of local market (monopoly) means worst services --> more danger.
Any censorship/ban will drive people to unregulated/rogue options --> even more danger.

Just read the articles, what the government officials say. "We will take money from gambling for social security" they say, as if it is the pocket change of some rich people and not the pension of some poor old guy.
They don't know any better or they do but take advantage of Gambling Stigma to take money from someone that is afraid to talk and nobody will defend.

Recently the European Commission announced that they will no longer deal with gambling monopolies in EU, leaving the people completely unprotected (up to now countries could have a gambling monopoly but only under strict gambling restriction policy). Some say it is because of Brexit and the fact that UK was the only voice of reason in the European Commission.

Whilst you make good arguments on special tax, Belgian casino's only pay 2% tax or something on their profit so I don't think that's much of an issue. RTP's of the games are exactly the same as those offered on any other casino with a UKGC or MGC license.
As far as service goes I have never had any issues with the casino's I'm signed up with, all the KYC checks have been smooth and payments are made within hours. Think I've posted here before that I haven't heard of any horror stories when it comes to people not getting their money. If anything the customer services of our online casino's are better than most because every online casino must be affilliated with a landbased casino where you can go and complain in person or even go and get your withdrawals in person. Bonus rules are usually more lenient than most of the international casino's as in there are no excluded games and no max bet while wagering.

However I do agree that due to censorship certain people will find it necessary to explore the rogue options just because... And yes, I would like to be able to play at say VS or Casumo because of their rewards system and whatnot because if there's one thing that's lacking due to the monopoly it's those things. But in my opinion that's the only downside.

 

[AnnaTS]

Is this really to help gambling addiction or it so they can keep the Swiss people spending money in Swiss casinos so the government earns more tax, I don't know the full law they have passed, But not letting people gambling in overseas casinos online, just makes me think that, But i could be wrong.

 

[Cody7]

I saw this yesterday

Voters give clear thumbs up for reform of Swiss gambling law

It is "funny" how they want to "protect" addicted people by making them lose their money faster (more taxes, worst conditions)!

Yep a straight up ban is never gunna work and online push people to rogue casinos I think they'd have more success in trying to regulate addicted players deposits or play tine even then that would be hard

 

[slotter999]

@AnnaTS I think the idea is the money gets recycled from those Swiss casinos offering online services via taxation of profits. How much of that goes towards addiction....I don't know. But my guess is that if the online casinos today are not based in Switzerland then it's probably zero right now. They are doing what most other governments will end up doing.

 

[ed skull murphy]

From what I gather, this was a referendum decision, so it is the result of direct democracy by the Swiss people themselves, not just the Swiss government.

I don't see how anyone can criticise the wish of a majority of the people, unless you believe that that majority has been propagandised into voting for it, against their better interests.

 

[nikantw]

From what I gather, this was a referendum decision, so it is the result of direct democracy by the Swiss people themselves, not just the Swiss government.

I don't see how anyone can criticise the wish of a majority of the people, unless you believe that that majority has been propagandised into voting for it, against their better interests.

Not just propaganda, especially non-gamblers have absolutely no idea what the right thing is. They just don't know anything more than "gambling is evil".

 

[ed skull murphy]

Not just propaganda, especially non-gamblers have absolutely no idea what the right thing is. They just don't know anything more than "gambling is evil".

You make a good point. Democracy doesn't work in most cases, it usually ends up in a totalitarian nightmare, but the Swiss have by far the best political system in the world, despite that system's shortcomings.

It's better than allowing a bunch of corrupt commie Eurocrats to make decisions for them.

 

[goatwack]

From what I gather, this was a referendum decision, so it is the result of direct democracy by the Swiss people themselves, not just the Swiss government.

I don't see how anyone can criticise the wish of a majority of the people, unless you believe that that majority has been propagandised into voting for it, against their better interests.

Someone say Brexit?

Oh brother

 

[ed skull murphy]

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[Biti]

I think it's not per definition bad to block illegal websites. Sure people can still acces them, but of websites are against law and warned, but continue, i do not consider it completely unfair to block them. I doubt if it's censorship. An illegal gambling site is not an opinion. People tend to use the slippery slope argument. But that's a fallacy. This law is about gambling, not about blocking porn, communist websites or whatever.

More effective would be however to require gaming providers to block Swiss ip's accessing their games from unlicensed casinos.

And just local casinos... in Belgium they almost all rent their license out, like in NJ. Same thing will happen in Switzerland.