Switzerland moving to open online casino market

The Swiss have decided that Internet gambling bans are a failed policy, and are attempting to allow individual cantons the right to regulate online casinos as they wish. Consulting company MECN says the Swiss example should be a lesson to the US and European Union countries. While the US tries to enforce its online gambling ban, and EU countries look for loopholes to protect gaming monopolies from open market rules, the Swiss have voluntarily looked to gambling liberalization.

"The Swiss liberalization plans show how the pressure of foreign online offers on state operators and income forces some states to rethink the existing regulations," says Martin Oelbermann of MECN.

Unlike many other countries, which examine online poker and sports betting but frequently ignore casino gambling, the Swiss measures concentrate on online casinos. Internet poker is expected to be included as part of the new laws.

Because Switzerland is not a member of the EU, it can determine its own gambling regulations without external legal pressure. But the inability to prevent incursion by foreign online casinos has led the Swiss to realize that regulation would be far more effective than prohibition.