A former compulsive player denounced to the Federal Commission for Game Houses a company that offers unauthorized online gambling in Switzerland. But the supervisory authority was slow to block the site.
“I lost several million francs in online casinos, because I completely lost control,” said a former player dependent on SRF Investigativ. This man, whom we will call Simon, has squandered a fortune in the games. He therefore voluntarily prohibited access to casinos, in Switzerland as abroad, over twenty years ago. “From that moment, the game was no longer part of my life.”
One evening, when he surfs on the internet, he comes across a casino site. “Instantly, all the mechanisms of dependence reactivate,” says Simon. Result: a relapse in addiction, big financial losses and several weeks of hospitalization in psychiatry.
A complaint, but no criminal procedure
Simon then files a criminal complaint against the operator of these online gambling from the Federal Commission for Game Houses (CFMJ). Reason: this company, based in Malta, manages more than 80 money gaming sites, without having received an authorization valid for Switzerland.
If we accuse those who fall into the trap of illegal offers instead of pursuing those who offer them, then as much do not regulate anything
But the supervisory authority, supposed to fight against illegal money games according to federal law on games of money, does not open a criminal procedure. The CFMJ rejects Simon’s complaint. In his written answer, she suggests that it is the players like him who make these illegal offers possible.
However, Simon suffers from an addiction to the game, a recognized disease. The law aims precisely to protect dependent people. For him, the argument of the CFMJ is incomprehensible: “If we accuse those who fall into the trap of illegal offers instead of pursuing those who propose them, then as much do not regulate anything.”
Nine months to block the 80 sites
The CFMJ took nine months to check and block the 80 sites concerned. Simon does not include such a delay. Even the national councilor of the Gerhard Pfister Center, president of the Swiss Casinos Federation, criticizes this slowness: “The blocking of illegal sites takes too long.”
“Due to the publication necessary in the federal sheet, the clarifications to be made with internet service providers, as well as technical and administrative processes, treatment can take time, especially if a large number of areas must be treated in parallel,” explains the CFMJ.
She also underlines that there are technical and legal limits abroad. Mutual legal assistance can be slow, even non -existent, because online gambling are legal in countries like Malta. “Creating an illegal online casino site is much simpler than having it blocked,” sums up Thomas Fritschi, the head of the CFMJ secretariat.
An update every three months
While online Swiss casinos report new illegal sites each month, the CFMJ only updates its blocking list every three months. “It is not enough. These sites should be blocked immediately,” demands Gerhard Pfister. To date, around 2,300 illegal sites are on the list, while there are more than 8,000 sites of this type in the world.
For Simon, the aid arrives too late, because his addiction ruined him. But to protect the other persons concerned, he is now expecting authorities that they act faster.
Philippe Odermatt (SRF)/DK