Interactive
Switzerland – Swiss National Council against IP blocking
By Phil - 18 January 2017
Switzerland’s National Council, the lower house of the country’s Federal Assembly, has said it is against proposals to give the Swiss Federal Gaming Commission powers to block access to unlicensed iGaming sites.
Earlier this year, the Council of States voted in favour of measures proposed by the Federal Council to block sites offering online gambling to Swiss IP addresses.
However, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Swiss National Council has now voted 13 to 12 to remove internet blocking from the legislation. The new legislation will instead allow the Federal Gaming Commission to warn and then prosecute sites breaching anti-gambling legislation.
Switzerland’s internet gaming era is probably still two years away. Struggling Swiss casinos have lobbied for international gaming sites to be blocked from accessing the Swiss market in the interim.
Trade association Swico (Information & Communication Technology Switzerland) has expressed its concerns over IP-blocking claiming the practice is ‘practically useless.’
Suisse Digital went further stating that if the government moved forward with its IP-blocking plans then Swiss gaming operators should pay for it.
