Switzerland’s government just announced that they will be reforming the online casino industry in their country.  They will be opening the online casino world to many online casinos and poker gaming companies.  To do this they have a need to issue new licenses to the companies who wish to operate in the Swiss market.  The idea is to block out the online casinos and poker sites that do not wish to pay for a license.  It allows any foreign or local company to work within the law, but stop any companies who are not.

There were existing rules for Switzerland’s gaming industry; however, these did not seem to be working too well.  There was a review of the 2007 Federal Casino Commissions policies just recently.  This old law did restrict foreign companies from obtaining licenses in Switzerland, but it did not stop them from allowing Swiss players.  Security measures have been slightly lax in these online casinos who wish to break the current law.

The ministry is trying to allow access to licenses for foreign companies in order to get the breaking of laws under control.  The other part of the story is the EU.  Any nation apart of the European Union must by law allow foreign online casino companies to obtain licenses.  They must also allow for licenses to be issued to private operators.  In other words the companies do not have to be public.

The ministry has stated that the new laws will restrict illegal gaming chances as well as have better technical measures regarding these games.  The reform is currently being looked over to ensure that it is ready to be made public.  Until it is completed and approved the ministry is going to keep a tight lid on certain aspects of the changes.

Some options that will exist are that future licenses must have servers installed in Switzerland.  In other words the government will have more control over the company by having access to the server it is on.  There are also steps to ensure that the government is liberalising online gaming.  This means a free market option with full state control.  

The final step that has been discussed is who will be in control of the licenses.  They may be issues by federal or regional authorities depending on what passes in the ministry.  More and more countries are looking at their gaming laws for a way to legalise gambling without issue.