New Report By ISGF Shows Swiss Gambling Participation Continues to Decline

New research commissioned by the Inter-Cantonal Lotteries and Betting Commission (Comlot) and the Eidgenössische Spielbankenkommission (ESBK), shows a decrease in the number of frequent gamblers in Switzerland in 2017.

By comparing the information gathered in 2007 and 2012, the recent study showed that just 16.4% of respondents gambled at least once a month.

On behalf of the two regulatory bodies…

… the Swiss Institute for Addiction and Health Research (ISGF) carried out the research focused on gambling behavior in 2017.

Decrease in Number of Frequent Players

Comparing it to previous data collected in 2012 and 2007, the final report showed that the number of frequent gamblers has fallen in 2017.

The study was conducted on 18,832 respondents. Amongst them, 16.4% were saying they took part in at least one form of gambling each month, which is down comparing to 16.9% in 2012 and 18.0% in 2007.

About 69% of respondents said they had gambled once before in the lives. According to the ISGF, that corresponds to approximately 4.4m people.

However…

… this number is also a decline regarding 70.6% in 2012, which was 5m people by the IGSF estimations.

When it comes to spending and wagering, players who said they frequently gambled spent less than CHF10 a month, while 39% said they wagered between CHF10 and CHFH99.

What Games Swiss Players Preferred?

When it comes to games that frequent players were playing in 2017, the ranking will be:

• Lotteries – the most popular form of gambling were lotteries, as 48.2% of frequent players said they had played these games in 2017.
• Raffle and private games – followed on 14.3% players.
• Table games – were the focus of 6.7% players.
• Slots – 6.7% punters were frequently playing slot machine games in 2017.
• Gambling halls – caught the interest of 5.7% gamblers
• Swiss sports betting – saw only 4.5% of the total amount of frequent betters

By the ISGF’s report, 2.3% of frequent players said they had gambled with a foreign or international online casino providers in 2017.

Low Risk of Developing Problems with Gambling

According to the report…

… less than two thirds of respondents who gambled in 2017 said they were at a low risk of developing problems with gambling, or at no risk at all.

The ISGF said that 0.2% of respondents were at risk of pathological gambling behavior, and that the majority in this percentage (22.1%) were playing games supplied by international online providers.

The report also suggested that only a small proportion of respondents reported problems at work or in relation to family or friends because of playing, but it didn’t relase the exact percentage.

Swiss Institute for Addiction and Health Research estimates that the number of gambling-related problems are likely to decline due to the implementation of the Swiss Federal Act on Real-Money Gaming (Geldspielgesetz) in January of this year. This act allows the country’s land-based casinos to offer online gambling, while also implementing enforcement measures to block access to unlicensed gaming sites.

This week, Inter-Cantonal Lotteries and Betting Commission has updated its blacklist of unlicensed operators banned from offering online gambling in the country, with 82 domains having been added since it was launched in September.

Source:

“Swiss gambling participation continues to decline“, igamingbusiness.com, October 9, 2019.