Switzerland suffered a decline in lottery and sports betting turnover in 2017, while the use of virtual private networks (VPN) has soared since the government passed its restrictive new online gambling law.

Figures released this month by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice show lottery and betting turnover hit CHF2.81b (US$2.84b) in 2017, a decline of 6.4% from 2016, which benefitted from a record-high Swiss Lotto jackpot of CHF70m. Gross gaming revenue from lottery and betting products was down 5.4% to CHF942m.

The country’s two main lottery operators – Swisslos, which caters to German-speakers, and Lotterie Romande, which operates in French – claimed 99.8% of 2017’s gross gaming revenue. Two lottery games – Swiss Lotto and EuroMillions – accounted for 45.3% of gross gaming revenue.

Combined sports and race betting turnover amounted to CHF184.3m, down around CHF10m year-on-year, while revenue fell around CFH3m to CHF58.3m. These betting figures were dominated by horseracing, which accounted for CHF130.6m of 2017’s turnover and CHF34.9m in revenue.