Up until a few years ago, a lot of money went from Switzerland to online casinos abroad. This meant the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance system and the cantons lost out on casino duties provided for by law. The new Gambling Act has changed all that. Online casinos have also been operating in Switzerland since 2019. Swiss Casinos – which runs four traditional casinos in Pfäffikon, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen and Zurich – also holds a licence to operate online. Its online casino is affiliated to the Pfäffikon casino.

Gambling online throughout Switzerland

According to Patrick Mastai, director of online casino operations at Swiss Casinos, online gamblers play more frequently, but in shorter sequences than customers in traditional casinos, which are usually located in urban centers and border regions and have limited catchment areas. The launch of its online casinos means Swiss Casinos is now available nationwide and caters for a multilingual customer base. The company is currently aiming to raise its profile in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. Director Patrick Mastai reveals his hand: “Online casinos enjoyed a boom during the pandemic. They fared very well whereas traditional casinos had to close for several months.”

Domicile in Switzerland

Anyone wishing to play on online casinos needs to register online. They have to upload their ID or passport and must also prove – unlike traditional casinos – that they reside in Switzerland.

When launching its online operations, Swiss Casinos opted for Swiss Post’s address services – which it had already been using successfully for some time – for the registration process. Swiss Casinos integrated the address assistant into the input screen and customized it for mobile phone usage. The address assistant recognizes whether the street, house number, postcode and location are valid and automatically completes the fields during the input process. In the background, address verification simultaneously verifies the last name, first names and postal address of the person concerned via a comparison with Swiss Post’s delivery database.

Registration is initially valid provisionally for 30 days. Customers can only make payments of up to 1,000 Swiss francs during this period. As soon as the residential address has been verified and the ID or passport submitted, the provisional player account becomes a verified and definitive one. Players can also then make payments.

Swiss Casinos has developed the online casino’s input screen in the same way as that for navigation devices: firstly the postcode is submitted leading to automatic recognition of the location and then the street and house number. Patrick Mastai is delighted with the solution: “The automatic input assistance makes life easier for users. I’m surprised more service providers don’t use the address assistant for their input screens.”

Highly accurate address verification

Swiss Casinos receives around 230 requests a day on average – with peaks on weekends and bank holidays. The address can be automatically verified in most cases. This means significant time and cost savings for Swiss Casinos. If address verification cannot be completed, users have to upload proof of address such as an invoice from a health insurance scheme or energy provider. The manual check by an employee required means additional costs are incurred.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Patrick Mastai gives the service 9 points. “Swiss Post’s address verification means the evidence of a residential address required under regulations can be largely automated. The resources saved can be used beneficially to provide support elsewhere. The address assistant supports users with the input process during registration, especially via mobile phone. And it ensures good data quality.”

More information about the address assistant and address verification