Far short of B peak
The Swiss Federation of Casinos has announced that the country’s 21 licensed gaming venues saw a modest increase in revenues in 2016. The total for the year was US$711 million, 1.2 percent higher than the 2015 results.
According to CalvinAyre.com, a dozen Swiss casinos posted year-on-year gains for the year, while the other nine reported slight declines.
It’s the first time since 2007 that the annual figure has increased, but the 2016 figure was well below the $800 million generated in 2004, the first year of legal casino gambling in Switzerland, and nearly one-third off the market’s 2007 peak of the $1 billion, reported the website.
The SFC blames the decline on several factors, according to the website: a smoking ban, a strong Swiss franc, which has limited the number of gamblers crossing the border; the proliferation of illegal gambling dens, which the federation says could be siphoning off $156 million in revenues a year; and international online gambling sites, which are getting their share too, pulling in some $260 million annually.
There may be hope in sight: the Swiss government has pledged to begin blocking the domains of unauthorized gaming sites sometime this year, and lawmakers approved legislation in the spring to allow local casino operators to go online. In June, Jürg Altorfer, chairman of casino operator Stadtcasino AG, announced that the company’s Grand Casino Baden is readying its JackPots.ch online casino, which will launch as soon as it’s legal.
