Switzerland is considering to implement new laws to regulate and legalise online gambling within their borders.
The Department of Justice and Police along with other federal agencies will be charged with drafting new laws allowing online gambling.
The country already has land based gambling with 19 licensed casinos, but the government were worried that online gambling could damage land based gambling and have previously held back on allowing laws for online gambling, which has been lobbied against by land based operators.
However with a recent report on internet gambling being published showing that the effect is minimal and the revenue from online gambling offsetting the loss to land based gambling, the government has decided to move forward with legislation.
Under the Swiss 1998 gambling act all online gambling is excluded, however Swiss nationals have never had a problem connecting to external online sites and playing.
Observers believe that the government will move for an online gambling license fee to operate within the country and will allow nationals to play online poker and other games outside the borders without restrictions.
It is also understood that those operators without a license will have their ISPs blocked so players cannot access those sites once licenses are issued.
The tax on operators receiving a license to operate in Switzerland is not clear as of yet, but it is believed to be a standard rate and not excessive unlike other EU regions.
Source: gaming-awards.com