Swiss gambling regulators have expanded the country’s online access-blocking regime to nearly 3,000 restricted domains, after a fresh enforcement sweep targeting offshore operators offering casino games and sports betting to Swiss consumers without a domestic licence.
The action was coordinated by the Eidgenössische Spielbankenkommission (ESBK)—the federal casino regulator—and Gespa, the inter-cantonal authority responsible for lotteries and sports betting. Authorities said monitoring of media and online environments will be stepped up and the “Liste der Gesperrten Domain” (blocked-domain list) will be updated more frequently as enforcement intensifies.
Under Switzerland’s Money Gaming Act (Geldspielgesetz/BGS), online gambling services must be restricted when an operator lacks a Swiss licence—most commonly because the business is based abroad or the origin of service is concealed—requiring Swiss ISPs to implement technical blocks.
ESBK continues to warn that consumers who access unlicensed sites are not committing a criminal offence, but do so at their own risk, notably because illegal platforms provide weaker player-protection safeguards; ESBK also publishes updates in the Federal Gazette.
The blacklist push lands as Switzerland’s Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) has launched a formal evaluation of the 2018 framework, reviewing whether channelisation, player protection and integrity objectives are being met—and whether enforcement tools like the blacklist are delivering the intended outcomes.
