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Switzerland – Online gaming on equal footing with land-based casinos for Stadtcasino Baden Group

By - 12 May 2022

The online casino of the Stadtcasino Baden Group is now on an equal footing with the gross player income in the classic casino business. However, the headquarters in Baden was closed for a total of 16 weeks in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Stadtcasino Baden AG has closed the 2021 financial year with a gross player income (BSE) of CHF 103m (previous year CHF 107m) with a profit of CHF 3.5m (CHF 3.9m).

At CHF 43m, the online casino jackpots.ch achieved almost the same gross player revenue as the classic casino for the first time – taking into account that the classic casino had to remain closed for 16 weeks in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Of the CHF103m in gross gaming revenue, Stadtcasino Baden AG paid a total of around CHF39.5m in the past financial year (previous year: CHF 42.5m). This mainly benefits the federal government and flows into the AHV fund. At the end of 2021, the group employed a total of 412 people at its various locations in Switzerland, Slovenia, Costa Rica and Malta, up from 377 people last year.

Jürg Altorfer, Chairman of the Board of Directors, is particularly pleased with the development of the online business. “With jackpots.ch, we were the first online casino and are established in the top three in Switzerland after two full financial years. Above all, however, the online business continued to support our sales in the second year of the corona.”

Gross gaming revenue from jackpots.ch increased by 13 per cent in the year under review and contributed CHF 43m (previous year: CHF38m) to earnings.

Chairman of the Board of Directors Jürg Altorfer. “It is also pleasing that we were able to close 2021 with a profit despite the pandemic-related adversities in the operating business.”

Two major transactions took place in the 2021 financial year. On the one hand, the complete takeover of several operating parts of the Gamanza Group, in which the Stadtcasino Baden Group previously held a 50 per cent stake as part of a joint venture. The Gamanza companies program software for online casinos and are the market leader in Switzerland: six of the eleven online casinos have licensed Gamanza’s Gamin’Genius software as a platform for their online activities. As of September 2021, Stadtcasino Baden AG divested itself of its 46 per cent stake in Casino Davos and sold it to the previous joint venture partner, the Belgian Ardent Group.

The anniversary year will once again be a year of challenges for the Stadtcasino Baden Group. In May, the federal government intends to publish the documents for the new tendering of the concessions. “In 2024, the concessions of all Swiss casinos expire,” explained Mr. Altorfer. “Every casino has to apply for a new licence with an application.” The procedure is open, i.e. all interested parties who meet the requirements can submit an application.

The Stadtcasino Baden Group intends to apply for three locations as part of its corporate strategy. In addition to the headquarters in Baden, the group would also like to submit a concession application for Locarno and Solothurn, as it has already announced earlier. “Over the past 20 years in Baden, we have developed and continuously improved a concept that, in our opinion, is also ideally suited at these two new locations – of course with the appropriate adaptations to local conditions,” Jürg Altorfer is convinced.

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