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Why the Swiss voted to ban offshore gambling websites

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Why the Swiss voted to ban offshore gambling websites
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Swiss people have voted in favour of banning foreign-based gambling sites, which could prompt other countries follow suit As well.

For starters, Switzerland had proposed to ban foreign-based gambling sites with a new Gambling Act. In line with the countries law, a citizens’ referendum was held on June 10, 2018, for its approval or rejection. In the referendum, 72.9 per cent of Swiss voters supported the new gambling law – in other words, an overwhelming majority of the people were with banning offshore gambling websites. As a result, from next year onwards, only Swiss-certified casinos and gambling companies will be able to operate in the country – both offline and online.

Passed on September 29, 2017, the Swiss Money Gaming Act substitutes the existing gambling law which deals with casino games and betting lotteries. Under the new Act, the overall ban on online gambling is abolished. However, the only licensed land-based casinos in Switzerland can run gambling websites for the people in the country. Essentially, the Act bans foreign-based gambling sites.

The government maintains that the Act will help deal with gambling addiction as well as allow taxation on gambling revenues. The taxes collected from gambling revenues will be used for anti-gambling purposes, the government insists. On the other hand, not everyone supports the Act. According to Mobile Casino Hub, the changes introduced by the Act will “censor the internet”.

 

The Opposition Opines

The Young Liberals, the Green Party, the Pirate Party and the Digitale Gesellschaft all backed a petition for changes in the June referendum. Organisations had 100 days from October 2017 to gather 50,000 signatures, which would allow changing the referendum. Despite that opponents managed to gather all necessary signatures, however, they did not do so in schedule, and so the referendum remained unchanged.

According to the Young Liberals, the Swiss economy will be affected by these changes. In a statement posted on the party’s website, representatives said that the block of foreign sites in favour of domestic companies is not reasonable. Additionally, the freedom of business and information will also be affected after the law is enforced.

Young Liberals criticised the government’s decision, saying they set a “dangerous precedent” which allows for a further limitation of the Internet. All the act does, opposing organisations say, is removing unwanted competition.

In the end, Young Liberals proposed an alternative, which they dubbed a “sensible solution” – foreign-based betting sites should be regulated and subject to taxation.

 

Enforcement of the Swiss Money Gaming Act

Enforced next year, the law will be one of the most severe laws in Europe. While it will enable online betting, the law will ban all foreign-based gambling sites. The Act introduces other changes in gambling – it changes the legislation of poker tournaments outside casinos and even tackles non-taxable wins from games outside casinos.

Under the Act, small-scale poker tournaments outside of casinos are no longer illegal. However, they will be limited in terms of buyin and amount of participants. Additionally, small-scale poker tournaments are subject to a license.

The most controversial element of the Act—the ban of foreign-based sites—was heavily disputed over the past several months, with opposing organisations saying it puts a limit on the freedom of the Internet and interferes with personal rights. Despite severe criticism, the government maintains that such measures are necessary to protect Swiss players from unregulated gambling on foreign sites.

 

Help Fight Gambling Addition

Swiss players spend nearly 250 million Swiss francs on unregulated betting sites abroad, paying nothing to the Swiss government. With the enforcement of the Act in 2019, this “hemorrhaging” will be stopped. The government has said that not only will taxes from gambling revenues be used for anti-gambling purposes, but they also will be used to fund anti-addiction programmes.

 

Will Other Countries Follow Suit?

An important question emerges after the Swiss decision to ban foreign-based gambling sites – will other countries follow suit?

Currently, the UK government is trying to deal with problem gambling. Despite that UK has a self-exclusion scheme; it has been failing for years due to the liberal gambling market, which allows all sorts of gambling operators to offer services on UK ground.

Nevertheless, Norway is currently pushing for a ban on all foreign-based gaming companies. Several Norway organisations pushed for legislation that will block foreign betting operators, grant extended authority to the Lottery Authority, etc.

Essentially, these measures will block all sites belonging to foreign-based operators, creating a poker ban (Norsk Tipping—Norway’s national lottery and future gambling monopoly—does not offer poker). The proposed measures were accepted on May 7, 2018, and are likely to be adopted soon.

 

Source: techfinancials.co.za

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The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024

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The Nomination Committee’s Proposal of Catena Media’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting 2024
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The Nomination Committee of Catena Media proposed re-election of the following members of the Board of Directors:

Øystein Engebretsen

Theodore Bergquist

Adam Krejcik

Sean Hurley

The Nomination Committee proposed that Erik Flinck and Dan Castillo be elected as new members of the Board of Directors.

Göran Blomberg, Esther Teixeira-Boucher and Austin Malcomb have declined re-election as board members.

The Nomination Committee proposed that there will be six (6) members of the Board of Directors, changed from seven (7).

The Nomination Committee also proposed Erik Flinck to be elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Erik Flinck, born in 1980, currently provides high end business consulting combined with serving as Chairman for the digital health startup, dr HUD. Mr Flinck previously served as Head of BCG Sweden and has extensive experience from corporate management, growth and turnarounds from nearly 20 years of Management Consulting and serving as Head of Group Strategy and M&A at Sandvik AB. He has a Masters Degree in Engineering (Software development and Financial Mathematics) from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a Masters Degree in Business and Administration from Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Business.

Born in 1980, Dan Castillo has accumulated over 20 years of experience across startups, growth companies and turnarounds. Since 2015, Castillo has invested in Catena Media, maintaining a close watch on its progression, especially after its IPO in 2016. He has previous experience of listed board work in Kotipizza which Orkla acquired in 2018. He currently serves on the boards of five companies in different sectors, including Quartr.com in Fintech and Hope Studios in movie production. His academic background includes studies in Finance and Economics at Linköping University.

The Nomination Committee of Catena Media consists of:

Nicklas Paulson, representing Investment AB Öresund (chair of the nomination committee)

Marianne Stenberg, representing Second Swedish National Pension Fund

Martin Zetterlund, representing Niklas Karlsson

Göran Blomberg, chairman of the board of Catena Media.

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IGT Announces Executive and Board Leadership Changes

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IGT Announces Executive and Board Leadership Changes
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International Game Technology PLC (IGT) announced that on March 21, 2024, its Board of Directors implemented changes to the Company’s Board and executive team.

Marco Drago announced that he will step down from his role as a non-executive director of the IGT Board of Directors. He will carry out his remaining term and depart from the Board at the conclusion of the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 14, 2024.

Enrico Drago has been appointed by the IGT Board of Directors as a non-executive director of the IGT Board. In addition, Enrico Drago will resign from his current role of CEO of IGT PlayDigital, and Gil Rotem, who is currently IGT PlayDigital President of iGaming, will expand his role to become IGT PlayDigital President and report directly to Vince Sadusky, CEO of IGT. These changes will be effective April 1, 2024. Enrico Drago will continue in his role as vice chairman of De Agostini S.p.A.

“As Marco Drago prepares to step down from his position on the IGT Board of Directors, I’d like to thank him for his many years of service and his unwavering commitment to driving results and creating value for all IGT stakeholders. Enrico Drago joining the Board and leaving his executive leadership position at IGT is a natural evolution that supports the Company’s vision for its next era of growth and transformation. Enrico’s value-creation mindset and understanding of global growth opportunities will enhance the Board and align with IGT’s strategic priorities,” said Marco Sala, IGT Executive Chair of the Board.

“Watching and guiding IGT through its evolution from a collection of companies that started with Lottomatica and GTECH grow into a unified global gaming leader has been very gratifying. We have been fortunate to have a great group of board members and business unit leaders that have helped drive IGT’s growth during this time. I thank them for their contributions and am certain that IGT is positioned for continued growth as we go forward with the bold initiatives we have undertaken,” said Marco Drago, IGT Non-Executive Director.

“Over the last five-plus years, IGT PlayDigital has established leadership positions in the global iGaming and North American sports betting sectors that will be foundational to the Company’s future successes. I thank the entire IGT PlayDigital team for all that we have accomplished in this time, and I look forward to supporting IGT in a new capacity and further helping the Company define its vision and strategy,” said Enrico Drago, CEO of IGT PlayDigital.

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Bidstack Executive Team Acquires Bidstack Limited and all its Subsidiaries

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Bidstack Executive Team Acquires Bidstack Limited and all its Subsidiaries
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The executive team of Bidstack has acquired Bidstack Limited and all the operating entities of the Group, from the administrators of Bidstack Group PLC. The deal sees James Draper, Founder & CEO, and the executive team of Bidstack Ltd become significant majority shareholders.

All contracts and client relationships will continue within the new ownership structure – safeguarding jobs for the UK and European-based staff.

Bidstack, the multi award-winning in-game middleware technology provider that initially set about bringing programmatic advertising revenue to the most renowned sports gaming franchises in the world, has diversified into a broader offering, taking advantage of the most advanced off-engine content management system in gaming.

Following the announcement of a partnership with the Washington Commanders, where the NFL franchise became the first-ever sports team to utilise a platform to control advertising within their virtual stadium, across official NFL games, from multiple studios and developers, the management team has been focusing on sports rights holders as a key customer type.

The executive team has the support of the world’s leading rights-holder professionals in the sports industry. It will continue to execute from its position as the leading technology for the sports industry, for fan engagement and brand activations, in video games.

The executive management consists of James Draper continuing as Chief Executive Officer, with Lisa Hau stepping up to Chief Financial Officer, Dave Garvey continuing as Chief Legal Officer, Will Stewart moving to Chief Product Officer and Daniel Barrigas to Chief Technology Officer.

James Draper, Bidstack’s Founder & CEO, said: “The acquisition is a pivotal moment for the next phase of growth for the business. Our technology is at the forefront of sports technology, and I couldn’t be more excited. I am proud that we are able to reward our ambitious and industry-pioneering team and have them as shareholders alongside myself.”

“I want to thank the staff and customers for standing by us during this strategic review, which has obviously been an uncertain period. For all of our customers to have stood strong alongside us is testament to the relationships we’ve built over the years, as well as the incredible staff we have here who have fostered those connections.

“The company can now focus on the enormous potential we have, to enable sports teams to get closer to their fans and improve the player experience by bringing their virtual IP to life, with real-time messaging, rewards and engagements.

“Thank you to the management team who have invested to protect the incredible work our talented group has produced. It’s extremely motivating to see the unwavering belief we collectively have in our vision and product. Sadly, the public market is an uncertain place currently, and it’s a challenging environment for growth businesses such as ours.

“The interest and support we’ve had from some of the leading players in the sports industry has given our team great confidence and motivation as we work with some of the world’s largest sporting franchises and leagues.

“Thank you to everyone’s support and to our Board of Directors, who have assisted myself and management throughout.”

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