Last year Switzerland voted the 'Gaming Money Act' which in short banned online gambling (including poker) from the country. The regulation came partially into effect on January 1st, but this week (July 1st) marked the date to come into full effect. What is the current status of online poker in Switzerland, and what can players do?
Official website of the World Series of Poker Tournament. Featuring poker tournament coverage of events, schedules and news. Play online poker games like the WSOP pros. Gambling in Ukraine was illegal between 2009 and 2020. Parliament outlawed gambling in 2009 after a May 2009 fire in a gambling hall in Dnipropetrovsk that killed nine people. The Ukrainian parliament passed the law 'On Prohibition of Gambling Business in Ukraine' (Gambling Ban Law) banning gambling business and any participation in gambling in Ukraine on May 15.
Swiss Money Gaming Act
Switzerland has never been a gambling-friendly country. Since 1921 several laws have been passed, and a full prohibition was enforced until 1921 when a small door was opened for local bettors but with limited stakes. In 2000 the Federal Law on Games of Chance and Casinos allowed unlimited stakes, but only games of chance were legal in the country, skill games remained illegal.
As we announced in December 2018, a new gambling law, the Swiss Money Gaming Act (Geldspielgesetz) was approved by a vast majority of citizens (over 70% of voters endorsed the Money Gaming Act). With the new regulation, online poker operators were able to seek a license, but only in partnership with a local casino and having a bad actor clause which affects sites like PokerStars. For six months (January - June), Geldspielgesetz only had partial effects, but a few days ago, the new gambling law had the full force, and players are already feeling the consequences.
The largest online poker room in the world, PokerStars, left the country on July 1st, 2019, as the Swiss Internet service providers are now obliged to block foreign gambling sites. As for today, there is no legal poker room operating in Switzerland, and the situation is dramatic...isn't it?
Best online poker rooms for Swiss players
Getting a Swiss gambling license will take a while. In the meantime, regs can join safely to several poker rooms including a full bankroll guarantee from Worldpokerdeals. Our offer is a lifesaver for Swiss players in 2019, and it includes access to some of the softest fields available online.
Cash games fans will be delighted with the traffic of Israeli (GoldPokerPro) or US-sites (Chico network), while MTT players will find a suitable offer at BetOnline. For those ready to try exotic rooms, Asian poker apps (FirePoker, HiTea) are currently non-reg flooded and cashouts are running smoothly.
| Online poker rooms | Low-stakes | Mid-stakes | High-stakes | MTT | Spin&Go |
| Asian poker rooms (PPPoker, FirePoker, HiTea) | X | X | X | ||
| Israeli poker rooms (GoldPokerPro, Royal Diamond, PurePlay) | X | X | |||
| J88Poker | X | ||||
| Cryptopoker rooms (Nitrogen Sports, Crypto poker club) | X | X | |||
| KingsclubPKR | X | ||||
| Italian poker rooms | X | X | |||
| Indian poker rooms | X | X | |||
| BetOnline | X | X | X | X | X |
The agency of Worldpokerdeals processes deposits and withdrawals for Swiss players via Skrill, Neteller, ecoPayz, and BTC, being the latter our recommendation thanks to the anonymity that it grants and the latest bull market that boosted the price to $12k (1BTC worth about 11kCHF today).
Conclusion
Although the gambling horizon in Switzerland may be clouded, with our assistance, Swiss players are still welcomed to join a wide selection of poker rooms. In a short time, only the most significant sites (usually PokerStars or partypoker) will apply for a license, but the closed pool won't be much interesting for regs. We invite Swiss poker pros to contact our team and get advice on the best sites to keep playing safely from your country.
Worldpokerdeals team:
| Manager/Contact | Skype | Telegram | |
| Rodion (Head of Company): | rodion_longa | iamlonga | +66954022973 |
| Timofey (Chief Manager) | timofey_asianpokerdeals_russia | Timofey_wpd | +79114412608 |
| Alex (General inquiries) | live:newbheartstoned | alexey_wpd | +66658566798 |
| David (Asian rooms manager) | live:b8f3fa9afc6fa3cc | David_wpd | +380980972748 |
| Antonio (EU and BTC rooms manager) | Anton.wpd | kapitonoff | +66956396293 |
| Matvey (Italian rooms manager) | asianpokerdeals.italy | magic_info | |
| Juan (Spanish and Indian rooms manager) | live:wpd.spanish | Juan_WPD | +573002888276 |
| Deposit bonus | n/a |
| Rakeback | 40% |
| Rakeback | up to 50% |
| Deposit bonus | - |
| Rakeback | up to 50% |
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