Swiss referendum; exit poll indicate voters will say yes to gambling reforms, no to sovereign money proposal

The Swiss referendum Sunday has been completed, and will deliver affirmation of two key laws supported by the government: Voters approved parliament’s gambling reform proposals, and rejected the sovereign money proposal which would have seen new money issuance confined to the central bank, a situation to which government was opposed.

That’s what exit polls conducted by independent research institute gfs.bern projected Sunday afternoon, predicting that a mere 25 percent of voters supported the sovereign money proposal.

Researchers also predicted that voters will approve by a wide 72 percent margin the government’s gambling reform law designed to give locally licensed land betting operators exclusive authority to offer both online and land gambling products.

The reforms are backed by stringent enforcement provisions to keep foreign firms out of the market despite claims from a mainly youthful activist and political demographic that the law represents censorship of the internet (see previous reports).

Due to take effect in 2019, the government says the reforms are designed to tackle gambling addiction and ensure that gambling tax revenues due from Swiss gambling are received.

Both houses of parliament have already passed the legislation.