Switzerland makes gambling winnings tax-free in regulated market
I’m all for online casino regulation. I believe that when you allow people to freely do what they enjoy without persecution, and when you can make money off whatever it is that they’re doing, everyone wins.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not pro everything. But as long as what we are talking about isn’t criminal, what’s the problem? Gambling is the perfect example. In the United States, there are online horse racing sites in some states, but the government of those states argue that online casinos are bad because gambling is immoral (apparently betting on horses is OK). In other states, the government freely operates a lottery, which doesn’t exactly require skill to win, but shuns casino gaming because it’s an alleged tax on the poor (what exactly is the lottery then?).
So when I first read about the proposed bill in Switzerland, I got excited. The Swiss totally get it. Under proposed legislation, online gambling will be allowed, any winnings collected from players will be exempt from taxes, and those who operate casinos in the country will be taxed.
The law goes even further to side with players. Under the legislation, preventing gambling addiction is a top priority, as is making sure that games aren’t fixed by sites and that the accounts aren’t being used to launder money.
At Palace of Chance, we already take care of preventing addiction and money laundering. We have measures in place to allow users to place limits on how much they can deposit. And our VIP team can help a user self-exclude themselves from the software if they need to take a self-imposed break. We also look at depositing and betting patterns to identify problems before they happen.
So in a nutshell, the Switzerland plan does what we already do, and what many other online casinos do in all kinds of markets. We’re excited to see a country take the right approach to gambling—one that puts players first.
It will be interesting to see if other countries follow suit, especially when so many online casinos will be on top of the Swiss market and paying a handsome sum to the government in taxes.
