Switzerland’s online gambling blacklist keeps targeting Curacao

Switzerland’s online gambling blacklist is growing again, while the nation’s online poker fans are getting frustrated with their lack of legal options.

On Tuesday, Switzerland’s federal gaming board (ESBK) issued the latest updates to its list of internationally licensed online gambling domains that local internet service providers are required to block. The current update adds 35 domains to the list, bringing the total number of naughty names to 145 since the most recent update last November.

The new entries primarily consist of bog-standard online casino sites associated with Cyprus-based, Curacao-licensed operators, some of which openly promote their availability to Swiss punters by offering them deposit bonuses in Swiss francs.

The somewhat downmarket focus of the ESBK’s blacklist suggests that the regulator has been largely successful in convincing most mainstream online gambling heavyweights to kick their Swiss customers to the curb following the passage of the country’s new online gambling laws.