Sports betting in Switzerland: two legal, 887 sites blocked

Legal sports betting in Switzerland: Sporttip and Jouez Sport

You can buy a betting slip at the kiosk round the corner. The betting app from the advert may well be on the blocklist. You can bet legally with Sporttip by Swisslos in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, and with Jouez Sport by Loterie Romande in French-speaking Switzerland. Both offer their bets online and at points of sale such as kiosks.

Under the Gambling Act, sports bets are large-scale games, and Gespa, the intercantonal supervisory authority for lotteries and betting, names exactly these two providers. Anyone else offering bets in Switzerland can end up on the blocklist.

Blocklist checker: is my betting site blocked?

bet365.com was already on the very first blocklist of 3 September 2019, on the Gespa list and on the FGB casino list. Type the name into the checker: it also shows 17 more blocked domains with “bet365” in the name.

The ConvivaPlus Blocklist Checker searches both official blocklists, 4,186 domains in total, and the lists of licensed offers. Enter a name or address: it shows whether the site is licensed, which list it is on and since which edition. What you type stays in your browser.

Swisslos lookalikes: blocked despite a familiar name

The address of Swisslos is swisslos.ch. The blocklists, however, list swisslos-ch.ch (Gespa since 24 March 2026, FGB since 26 May 2026) and swisslosch.ch (Gespa since 21 October 2025). All of them carry the name of the lottery company, all of them are blocked in Switzerland.

One extra character is enough for an entirely different site. Before you sign up or deposit money from a link in an ad or a message, check the address character by character. For every name, the checker also shows the blocked lookalikes.

Sports betting blocklist: from 65 to 887 sites

In the last twelve months alone, 255 betting and lottery sites were added to the Gespa list. It started in September 2019 with 65 domains, then kept by Comlot, which became Gespa in 2021. Today it has 887, about 14 times as many.

For the ConvivaPlus analysis we counted each of the 29 editions since 2019, domain by domain. The ConvivaPlus blocklist time series shows both lists: over the same period, the FGB casino list grew from 39 to 3,566.

Is betting illegal? Operators and advertisers are punishable

Anyone advertising a blocked betting site risks a fine of up to 500,000 francs. The two criminal articles of the Gambling Act target operators and advertisers: punishable is anyone who runs, organises or provides large-scale games without a licence (Art. 130) and anyone who advertises unlicensed gambling (Art. 131).

That is why the block targets the providers. Article 86 requires access to online gambling without a Swiss licence to be blocked, and Swiss internet providers enforce it technically. For online casinos, the FGB says it explicitly: players are not liable to prosecution, but they play at their own risk.

In practice: a win with a blocked provider is not tax-free, because the exemption only applies to licensed games. And the law's player protection binds the licensed providers. They must exclude people who are over-indebted or addicted to gambling, the exclusion then applies at all casinos and to all online large-scale games, and anyone can request it for themselves (Art. 80). Minors are not admitted online (Art. 72). For help with gambling addiction, SOS Spielsucht answers on 0800 040 080, around the clock, free and anonymous; its website also lists counselling centres in every region.

Sports betting winnings tax: tax-free up to 1,071,000 francs

Win 1,000,000 francs with Sporttip and you pay no income tax on it, neither federal nor cantonal. The same sum with a blocked provider is income. A win with Sporttip or Jouez Sport is tax-free up to 1,071,000 francs, per individual win. That is the tax-free amount from 1 January 2026. Until 2022 it was exactly 1,000,000 francs, since then the Confederation has adjusted it for inflation.

That applies to direct federal tax, based on Article 24 letter i^bis of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation. For cantonal and municipal taxes the amount is at least 1,000,000 francs, and each canton may set a higher one (Art. 7 para. 4 Tax Harmonisation Act). Anything above is income, and the operator pays 35 percent withholding tax on it.

A provider without a Swiss licence is not licensed under the Gambling Act, so none of these exemptions apply to its winnings. This is not tax advice: for a large win, your cantonal tax office can tell you more, and our comparison of the 26 cantons shows how much taxes differ.

How to declare winnings: see our guide to the Swiss tax return.

On both lists: 30 % of betting sites also blocked as casinos

Almost one blocked betting site in three is also blocked as a casino. 267 domains are on both the Gespa betting list and the FGB casino list, 30 percent of the Gespa list. Gespa is responsible for betting and lotteries, the FGB for casino games. A site offering both can end up on both lists.

Together, the two authorities block 4,186 different domains. The checker searches both lists at once and tells you which authority a block comes from.

New blocklist: on average every 52 days

A betting site you can reach today may be gone in seven weeks: on average, a new Gespa list appears every 52 days. In the last twelve months, Gespa updated its list 7 times, most recently on 25 August 2026. The FGB publishes its casino list in the Federal Gazette, 4 times in twelve months, most recently on 25 August 2026.

A site that is not blocked today may be blocked in the next edition. That is why the checker shows the date of the lists with every result, and we add every new edition.

Online casino legal? 10 platforms, 3,566 blocked sites

For casino games, 10 Swiss casinos may offer their games online, while 3,566 casino sites are on the FGB blocklist. That is 357 blocked sites per licensed platform, against 444 per provider in betting.

There, too, blocked sites carry familiar names: 10 domains with “starvegas” are on the list, only starvegas.ch is licensed. All ten platforms and their lookalikes are on the page online casino legal in Switzerland.