Swiss Online Casinos Undergoing Payment Processing Failure

Switzerland’s regulated online casino market is currently facing its first payment processing scandal.

What led to the issues regarding payment processing?

Media reports had shown that customers of two locally licensed online casinos who funded their online accounts via PostFinance found out that their balances were significantly lower than the night before.

The casinos in question are Jackpots.ch and Casino777.ch, both of which are operated by Stadtcasino Baden Group and were among the first online casino sites to launch in the country’s new regulated online gambling market. 

Apparently, a software update at PostFinance on March 17 led the customers’ funds that were deposited into the casino accounts being debited from their PostFinance accounts. The technical issue reportedly lasted until the end of May.

Customers who didn’t keep records of their financial activity only found out about the issue on June 8, when PostFinance adjusted their account balances to reflect the online casino transfers. In a few instances, these accounts were left with a negative balance, which caused PostFinance to lock the accounts, resulting in some customers being unable to pay other bills.

Grand Casino Baden CEO, Detlef Brose, announced that the sites “will reimburse all game losses that are related to subsequent bookings that were made more than 30 days ago.”  In contrast, PostFinance is being less generous, offering only to work out a repayment plan with customers whose balances are now in the negative. 

Over 1,000 customers are said to have been impacted by the processing failure.