Switzerland is preparing to order IP providers to block illegal offshore online gambling sites in the country, but the IP providers are balking at providing the service for free.
According to reports, providers want Swiss casinos to pay to block the sites, even if the blocks are ordered by the government.
Casinos in the country are hoping for help from the blocks as they wait for new regulations—scheduled for 2019—which could allow them to also offer online gambling.
According to Yognet.com, an umbrella group for the providers Information & Communication Technology ICT Switzerland, has called IP-blocking schemes “practically useless” in protecting closed markets. With Switzerland lacking an online market at present, the group says players will have no other option then illegal sites.
ICT trade group Swico’s managing director Jean-Marc Hensch also recently said that “if Switzerland is to remain innovative and competitive, we cannot cut ourselves off from international competition and let the digitization of the economy pass us by,” according to Yogonet.
Also, Swiss media outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported that telecom trade group Suisse Digital had proposed that Swiss casinos bear the cost of blocking sites. The group also wants to be able to suspend the blocks if they interfere with overall networks.
According to CalvinAyre.com Suisse Digital, also warned that a block could lead to a “flood of requests” from other industries for similar protections.
