There will be 22 casinos, the Federal Council has issued approvals for the next 20 years. Gambling was permitted in Winterthur and Lausanne
The Swiss Federal Council has reallocated casino concessions for the years 2025 to 2044. But there is not much new. In most cases, it is the previous operators who can continue to operate their casino. In the vast majority of the 22 awarded regions there was only one candidate at a time. These are Baden-Aarau, Bern, Berner Oberland Ost, Geneva, Fribourg, Jura, Lucerne, Lugano, Locarno, Mendrisio, Montreux, Neuchâtel, Nordbünden, Südbünden, Sarganserland, Schwyz and Zurich.
The initial situation in Lausanne and Valais was more exciting. There, existing casinos received competition. In both cases, however, the Federal Council and the Federal Casino Commission (ESBK) chose the provider that already operated the casino. The new region of Lausanne was also contested. There, the Federal Council granted the concession to Projet Casino Prilly AG.
The award was also controversial in the Basel area. In addition to the well-known Airport Casino, industry leaders Swiss Casinos have also applied for a new gaming operation in Oftringen. However, they were unsuccessful. At the beginning of the year they were still confident and had already appointed the future director of the Casino, Melanie Herzog. “With its location in the city of Basel, Airport Casino Basel AG exploits the available market potential in the Basel area much better than the applicant from Oftringen,” explained the ESBK report on the decision.
There is no longer a casino in Schaffhausen
For the moment, the question of how to proceed with the concession of the Schaffhausen area remains unresolved. However, the Federal Council also gave the order to prepare a new report on the casino situation for Wednesday. This will be covered in 2028 and will also give clarity on the Schaffhausen issue. There, the sole applicant had withdrawn this April. Her application had previously been rated incomplete. As a result, there will no longer be a casino in Schaffhausen for the time being. The last operator in Schaffhausen had already announced previously that it would roll roulette balls in the new area of Winterthur in the future. So on Wednesday he received the corresponding concession from the Federal Council.
Finally, there will be a little more competition in the online sector in the future: twelve casinos will receive permission to offer casino games on the Internet.
