Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casino
Switzerland
Online casino is lawful only as an extension of a Swiss land-based casino concession, and foreign sites are blocked.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Tied to land-based | An online licence is available only to the holder of a corresponding land-based licence. |
| Sports betting | State monopoly | Reserved to a state or state-controlled operator; no commercial licence is available. |
| Online poker | Tied to land-based | An online licence is available only to the holder of a corresponding land-based licence. |
| Lottery | State monopoly | Reserved to a state or state-controlled operator; no commercial licence is available. |
How the market works
The Money Gaming Act allowed Swiss online casino from 2019, but only for holders of an existing Swiss casino concession. Foreign operators cannot obtain a licence on any terms, and access to unlicensed foreign sites is blocked at network level under lists maintained by the authorities. Large-scale games such as lotteries and sports betting sit with the cantonal operators, supervised by the intercantonal authority.
The practical effect is that Switzerland is the strictest version of the land-based linkage model. Belgium at least allows a partnership to be built around an existing licence; Switzerland limits the field to the concession holders themselves, several of which have launched online brands in cooperation with international platform suppliers.
Switzerland is therefore a supplier market rather than an operator market: the opportunity for an international business is in providing the platform, the games or the live casino content to a Swiss concession holder.
Who regulates it
Intercantonal Gambling Supervisory Authority (Gespa), based in Bern and operating under Money Gaming Act (BGS/LJAr). The Swiss authority for lotteries and betting, in a market where online casino is limited to land-based concession holders.
Licence types issued
- Large-scale games licence (lottery, sports betting, skill games)
- Online casino extension for concession holders
Questions about Switzerland
Other markets in Europe
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casino
Open licensing per game type
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
Licensed online casino
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casino
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casino
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.