Switzerland

The Federal Act on Money Games (Money Gaming Act / Geldspielgesetz, in force 1 January 2019) governs lotteries, sports betting and skill-based games (regulated intercantonally by GESPA) and casinos (regulated federally by the ESBK). Large-scale sports betting and PMU horse-race betting are reserved exclusively for the two cantonal lottery operators, Swisslos (German-speaking Switzerland, Ticino) and Loterie Romande (French-speaking cantons), so there is no open licensing market for private or foreign operators.

To protect this monopoly, the Act empowers authorities to DNS-block unlicensed offshore gambling websites; Switzerland’s blacklist had grown to roughly 2,944 blocked sites by February 2026. Prediction markets are treated as unlicensed money games — GESPA added Polymarket to its blocklist (reported November 2024) — with no legalization pathway under current law, hence prohibited.

The minimum age for betting and lottery participation is 18. As of 2025-2026 the monopoly model continued, with no liberalization toward private/foreign online betting licences enacted.

Switzerland online betting laws grant a duopoly to two government-backed operators, and that duopoly is the whole of the legal market. Offers by any other operator are illegal, and Swiss internet service providers are obliged to block the domains on the statutory blocklists.

The two Swiss-licensed sports betting operators are named below, followed by an explanation of Switzerland's online sports betting and gambling laws.

Legal Switzerland Betting Sites

Switzerland sports betting fans have no lawful alternative to the two lottery-backed operators the government licenses: only Swisslos and Loterie Romande are licensed to run lotteries and sports betting in Switzerland, and offers by any other operator are illegal.

As in many European nations, Switzerland prohibits unlicensed operators from offering their services in Switzerland but does not target individual bettors who use sportsbooks licensed in other countries. Instead, the government encourages bettors to use licensed Swiss betting sites to guarantee the safety of their funds.

However, many bettors use foreign betting sites because they offer significantly better odds and more wagering options. That is not the same as betting safely or legally. Offering money games from abroad is illegal under the Federal Act on Gambling and subject to prosecution under criminal law, and a player who uses such a site risks having stakes and winnings confiscated in the course of the criminal proceedings against the provider — with no Swiss authority able to verify how the games are run or how personal data is handled.

An extensive internet blocking campaign instituted by the government has reduced bettors’ options, but unlicensed sites that accept Swiss customers remain reachable.

Other Swiss Sports Betting Sites

Bettors who want to use a licensed online sportsbook must use one of the following betting sites — the only two Gespa has licensed, since offers by any other operator are illegal:

• Jouez Sport by Loterie Romande: Only available in the French-speaking cantons of Fribourg, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Geneva, and Jura.

• Sporttip by Swisslos: Available nationwide

Offshore gambling sites offered online sports betting to Swiss customers for years despite not having the authorization to do so, but that began to change in 2019 as the government rolled out its plan to block access to the websites of unlicensed providers. Many bigger-name companies pulled out of Switzerland in anticipation of partnering with local casinos sometime in the future to offer online gambling and sports betting.

Some offshore betting sites continue to offer their services to Swiss bettors, but the days of prominent providers doing so have mostly come to an end. There is no law to punish individual users who visit unlicensed betting sites.

Switzerland Online Sports Betting Laws

Switzerland introduced sweeping new gambling and sports betting regulations in 2019 via the Money Gaming Act (MGA) after nearly 73% of voters approved it the previous year. The MGA instituted legal requirements for Swiss betting sites, online casinos, land-based casinos, and more.

The law included most of the proposals lawmakers had suggested in previous years. Two of the primary changes the Money Gaming Act brought to the Switzerland online betting industry were to authorize land-based casinos to apply for licenses to operate gambling websites and for the lottery to offer online sports betting.

The MGA partially opened the Switzerland online gambling market to private competition, but Swisslos and Loterie Romande retain a duopoly over legal online sports betting.

The MGA requires online lotteries, sports betting operators, and skill game sites to apply for licenses from the Swiss Gambling Supervisory Authority (Gespa). Meanwhile, the Federal Casino Commission (ESBK) regulates online casinos and poker sites in Switzerland.

Regulators have only issued two online sports betting licenses to date, one each to Loterie Romande and Swisslos.

The law also allows regulators to ask local internet service providers to block access to unlicensed online casinos and sports betting sites in Switzerland. The Commission Fédérale des Maisons de Jeux (CFMJ, roughly “Federal Gambling Houses Board”) maintains a list of blocked gambling sites on its website here, and Gespa publishes a second blocklist covering lotteries and sports betting.

Some Swiss citizens continue to express concern over giving the government censorship power over the internet, but the CFMJ rationalizes the necessity of protecting regulated bookmakers. However, a court ruling in 2022 reaffirmed the government’s authority to block access to unlicensed Swiss betting sites.

Switzerland Online Horse Racing Betting

Legal pari-mutuel horse racing wagering is offered by the two lottery operators, both online and at their points of sale. Loterie Romande and Swisslos have the exclusive right to offer horse racing betting in Switzerland through a partnership with France’s Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU).

Loterie Romande offers PMU pari-mutuel wagering on its own online platform, so foreign operators are not the only option for betting on horse racing online in Switzerland.

Those wagers are the PMU romand’s: Pari Simple, Pari Couplé, Tiercé, Quarté+ and Quinté+ on races in several countries, available on the online gaming platform as well as at points of sale.

Switzerland Online Casinos

Swiss law grants land-based casinos the exclusive right to apply for licenses to offer online gambling. Twenty-one land-based casinos operate in Switzerland today, and ten of them also run an online offer.

Foreign operators that don’t operate land-based casinos in Switzerland may not apply for licenses and are subject to internet and financial blocking measures if they accept Swiss customers.

Despite the restrictions, numerous online casinos licensed in other countries offer their services to Swiss players. Swiss casino sites headquartered elsewhere are illegal under the MGA whatever licences they hold at home: offering money games from abroad is illegal under the Federal Act on Gambling and subject to prosecution under criminal law.

However, foreign gambling sites may partner with domestic casino operators to offer online gambling in Switzerland if regulators approve the partnership.

Is It Legal to Bet Online in Switzerland?

To the credit of Swiss officials, they always seemed to understand that the situation previously made no sense. If people will bet online anyway, the state might as well legalize, regulate, and tax it. News sources have been reporting on legalization rumors since 2013, but it wasn’t until 2015 that lawmakers formally introduced a bill.

Swiss newspaper 20min.ch reported on the development in an article published online in October 2015. The proposal would authorize all land-based casinos to offer online gambling in Switzerland. In addition, the law would change the tax code so that all licensed Switzerland betting sites would pay winnings tax-free.

Previously, lottery and sports betting wins were taxed, while winnings derived from casino games were exempt. The proposal eventually became the Money Gaming Act and, while it exempts sports and lottery winnings under CHF 1 million, it still imposes taxes on winnings greater than that amount.

The one problem with the proposal was the timeline it set. Even though the law dates back to 2015, it wouldn’t be until 2019 for the first local casinos to even begin applying for Swiss online gambling licenses. The Swiss Federation of Casinos objected to the extended timeline, calling it “far too late.”

Nevertheless, lawmakers proceeded with the Act and passed it into law. A referendum to block the act failed, and it finally took effect nearly four years later.

The new law also loosened Switzerland’s restrictions on poker games outside casinos. Previously, the law prohibited all real money poker games organized outside of licensed casinos. The new law allows small poker tournaments outside casinos as long as organisers obtain approval from their cantonal authority, with federal limits on entry fees and on the number of events per day and location.

Betting Deposits in Swiss Francs

Switzerland online sports betting laws allow customers to fund their accounts via various electronic and cash-based means. Large Switzerland betting sites accept all the most common payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, Neteller, Skrill, instant bank transfers, bank wires, and paper cheques in the mail.

Withdrawals are typically paid back through the same method used to deposit. So, if you make a CHF betting deposit with Neteller, your betting site will issue any winnings back to your Neteller account. Most online sportsbooks support the Swiss franc currency, but some foreign betting sites convert customers’ deposits into USD, EUR, or GBP.