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CASINO

Country’s top casino ready to roll

Switzerland’s largest casino is officially opening on Thursday in Zurich with hoopla, including Las Vegas showgirls and concerts by impersonators of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Louis Armstrong, among others.

Published: 31 October 2012 22:22 CET
Country's top casino ready to roll
Photo: Swiss Casinos

The gambling palace, opened in a former downtown department store building on the Gessnerallee after 11 months of renovations at a cost of 47 million francs ($50 million), is betting on drawing large crowds.

Swiss Casinos Zurich said it expects an average of 1,600 visitors a day in a city that was previously without a casino.

With its sleek interiors, the casino was designed in a “modern and timeless way,” director Michael Favrod told a press conference.

The company says it will generate 107 million francs a year in revenues, 66 million francs of which will be paid out to the federal government in taxes.

By 2015, the company expects to take in annual receipts of 124 million francs.

Gamblers can bet up to 20,000 francs on a variety of games of chance.

The casino features 400 slot machines and 26 roulette, blackjack and poker tables spread out over 3,000 square metres of floor space.

A restaurant set to open next year is planned for the fifth floor of the building.

The casino is employing a total of 213 people, including 60 croupiers.
 
It is expected to provide competition for the Grand Casino Baden in the canton of Aargau, which previously held the title as biggest in Switzerland.
 
Swiss Casinos Holding  also owns casinos in St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, and Pfäffikon (canton of Schwzy), in addition to a share in the ownership of casinos in Bern and St. Moritz.

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GAMBLING

Spain to force gamblers to set time and spending limit before playing online

The Spanish government wants to limit the amount of time and money gamblers spend on online betting and gambling platforms by making them set limits before they start playing. 

Published: 23 August 2021 14:24 CEST
Spain to force gamblers to set time and spending limit before playing online
Photo: PAUL ELLIS/AFP

This is the proposal in the latest draft decree of Spain’s General Directorate of Gambling which could be approved at the end of 2021 or early 2022.

Under the new rules, people who play online games such as bingo, roulette, black jack, baccarat and virtual fruit machines would have to first set how much money they intend to gamble and how long they intend to play. 

Whichever of the two limits runs out first would end the gambling session. 

If the law is approved, online gamblers in Spain will still be able to start another session straight afterwards, as the objective of the law is to help prevent players from losing control over what they’re spending and to give them a break to let the adrenaline rush drop and a moment to reconsider their options. 

In any case, online gamblers in Spain would have a daily spending limit of €600 or €1,500 a week if the draft law is approved.

With this clause, lawmakers hope to distinguish “serious” gamblers – those who surpass the 50 percent daily limit of €300 – from those who don’t play online as regularly. 

Once an online gambler was classified as “serious” (intensivo), they would not be allowed to pay for their gambling sessions with a credit card in order to prevent them from piling up debt. 

Spanish authorities are particularly concerned about the increasing number of young people who are becoming addicted to gambling and betting sites, often lured in by the promise of free bets when signing up.  

A 2019 report by Spain’s Federation of Rehabilitated Gamblers found that Spain has the highest rate of young gamblers (aged 14 to 21) in the EU. 

READ MORE: Spain has Europe’s highest rate of teen gamblers

The pandemic, including the lockdowns, restrictions and boredom that have come with it, have only served to intensify the trend. 

The average annual spending per player in Spain went from €312 in 2016 to €533 in 2020.

Under the new rules, young people would be considered “serious” gamblers if they spent 25 percent of the limits set: €150 for two days in a row, or €375 over the course of two weeks. 

More than 8.5 percent of online gamblers in Spain (of the 1.5 million total of active players) do not reach the mentioned levels that signal addiction.

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