“Players generally expect stability, transparency and reliability, which naturally shapes strategy towards long-term value rather than short-term wins.”
Following the first discussion on innovation in Switzerland’s iGaming market. Golden Whale’s CTO Thomas Kolbabek recently joined SiGMA‘s roundtable on what sustainable success and innovation look like in the Swiss iGaming market.
Switzerland’s online gambling market is one of Europe’s most controlled environments, shaped by cautious regulation, strict compliance expectations, and a model that links online gaming closely to the country’s land-based casino sector.
That design choice has consequences. It raises the bar for anyone trying to enter the market, increases the cost of compliance, and constrains the kind of loud promotional playbooks that have become normal elsewhere. But it also creates a regulated environment where trust, legitimacy and long-term sustainability are the core competitive battleground.
A recent GameOn roundtable for SiGMA News brought together three perspectives that sit at different pressure points of that system: an operator viewpoint from Deborah Conte Santoro of Swiss Casinos, a payments lens from Andrea McGeachin of Neosurf, and a technology and optimisation perspective from Thomas Kolbabek of Golden Whale. Taken together, their comments sketch a market that has chosen incrementalism and, so far, appears comfortable with the trade-off.
What impact do you believe the introduction of the new casino licenses has had on the Swiss market? Has this had any impact on public trust within the gambling landscape?
Thomas Kolbabek: It’s still too early to assess the full impact in a meaningful, data-backed way. That said, expanding the legal offering is generally a positive step. It increases consumer choice and can improve channelling into regulated environments, which is essential for long-term market health and public trust.
Given the cross-border nature of AML risks, payments and player protection, how important is cooperation with other jurisdictions for Switzerland’s gambling ecosystem?
Thomas Kolbabek: Cross-border cooperation is extremely important. The exchange of know-how, tools, typologies and information is central to effective countermeasures. Criminal networks, fraud rings and illegal operators act globally, so regulators and licensed businesses need to collaborate at a similar level. This is especially relevant in payments and AML, where risk patterns don’t respect borders, and in player protection, where best practices continue to evolve rapidly.
How do consumer expectations in Switzerland differ from those in other regulated markets? And how does this shape your strategy within the market?
Thomas Kolbabek: Switzerland benefits from a strong foundation of trust in its regulated environment. Players generally expect stability, transparency and reliability, which naturally shapes strategy towards long-term value rather than short-term wins. At Golden Whale, we support this by building systems that promote sustainable player behaviour, while still delivering an excellent user experience. Ultimately, responsible engagement and highly-optimised customer journeys need to go hand-in-hand, ideally resulting in what we like to call “the best UX on the planet.”
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