Grand Casino Kursaal Bern launches Swiss online casino brand
Casinos Austria International’s Grand Casino Bern in Kursaal has become the latest land-based casino in Switzerland to launch an online gambling website.
The 7melons.ch website is now live and offers a range of online casino games to players in Switzerland.
The site will operate under Grand Casino Bern’s online gambling licence, which, secured in November last year, permits the operator to run online casino games alongside its existing land-based offering. Another Casinos Austria International property, Casino Interlaken, launched igaming under the StarVegas.ch domain in February this year.
Grand Casino Bern’s land-based facility opened in April 2002, but is currently operating on a limited hours and capacity basis due to novel coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions in the country.
In July, Swiss gambling regulator Eidgenössischen Spielbankenkommission said online gaming licensees in the country were able to generate a total of CHF23.5m (£20.1m/€21.8m/$25.9m) in revenue during 2019.
Legal igaming launched in Switzerland in July 2019, with all revenue generated in the market coming during the latter part of the year.
In terms of land-based activity, total revenue from Switzerland’s 21 casinos amounted to CHF742.5m in 2019, of which category A licensees – larger venues in urban areas – contributed CHF449.0m.
Casinos Austria International (CAI), Casinos Austria’s subsidiary that operates venues in other countries, earlier this month posted a loss for the first half of 2020, as revenue fell by more than 30% to €52.8m.
The operator’s €52.8m in revenue for the six months to 30 June, was down 30.5% year-on-year from 2019.