The current law regarding gaming for money presents a gap: it does not regulate the jurisdiction for the revocation of gambling bans pronounced by a casino that has ceased its activity. To fill this gap, the Federal Council, in its meeting on 29 November 2023, decided to amend the ordinance on gambling (OGD): from 1 January 2024, in these cases the revocation of an exclusion will be the responsibility of the gaming house nearest.
According to current law, an excluded player can request the revocation of the exclusion from the game if the reason that determined it no longer exists. The revocation procedure is the responsibility of the gaming house or large-scale games organizer who issued the exclusion; However, until now the jurisdiction for the revocation procedure in the event that one of these operators no longer exists was not regulated.
The Federal Council filled this regulatory gap with an amendment to the OGD. From 1 January 2024, the data entered in the register of exclusions from a gaming house no longer in operation will be transmitted to the nearest gaming house, which will in future process requests for revocation of the exclusions pronounced by the casino no longer operating. The provision also applies to the organizers of large-scale games: once their activity ceases, the revocation procedure will be the responsibility of the organizer of lotteries and sports betting with the nearest office which will receive the data from the exclusion register for this purpose.
This provision protects the rights of players and is particularly important in view of renewal of concessions for casinos scheduled for 2025.
