Swiss To Offer Online Gambling Licenses
In Switzerland, the Government has announced plans to liberalise its online gambling market by offering operators a limited number of licenses while keeping a ban on wagers placed through telephone and interactive television.
The proposals are the idea of the Justice Ministry in response to the increasing number of illegal online money games but any changes would be subject to the approval of the Swiss Parliament.
The plan would also tighten measures against other forms of illegal gambling, which could see the Swiss run afoul of the European Commission for seeming to give preferential treatment to locally licensed providers over those based in other Member States.
According to an article from news portal SwissInfo.ch, new forms of gambling in Switzerland could see the Government generate tax revenues of up to $22 million a year.
The Swiss decision comes hard on the heels of Denmarkâs announcement last week that it would be presenting proposals that would, if passed, end the 60-year gaming monopoly of the State-owned Danske Spil organisation.