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VADUZ, Liechtenstein – Tuesday evening in an industrial neighborhood in northern Liechtenstein was dull, but that didn’t stop a steady stream of drivers in cars carrying a number of international license plates.
Their goal: a squat gray building with understated blue and red neon signs that read “Grand Casino.”
Ronald Grimm, a 59-year-old Austrian living in Switzerland who wears a silver ring on his left ear, says he visits the Grand Casino, one of the mostly ordinary casinos along the borders of Liechtenstein, whenever he wants to play. slots.
“I’m too old for nightclubs, I’m not a bar regular – so where do I go? To the casino,” he said. Opened in 2019 and boasting 292 slot machines and 29 gaming tables spread over 3 floors, the Grand Casino is his favourite, a place where he feels more likely to win. “I like the ambiance,” he said.
Covering an area of approximately 62 square miles, Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in the world. Not even 40,000 people call this place home.
But just four years after opening its first casino, Liechtenstein—a small principality sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, primarily known for its private banking and former tax haven status—now has more casinos per capita than Monaco, Macau or Clark County. Home to Las Vegas, Nev.
Over the past few years, Liechtenstein has seen the opening of five casinos aimed primarily at attracting gamblers from neighboring countries, and there are plans for five more. The increase is cause for alarm among some in a country where gambling was largely illegal until 2010.
“Liechtenstein does not need casinos and the money they bring,” said Hansjörg Frick, a former politician and founder of IG VolksMeinung, a group that opposes casinos. “We don’t want to partner with them”
Christian Frommelt, director of the Liechtenstein Institute, an independent research organization, said casinos will continue to be a divisive issue. “It’s rare for such a big discussion to take place in Liechtenstein and for an issue to be so politicized,” he said.
He said the casinos pitted the rural country’s conservative values based on Catholicism against the liberal economic values that have made Liechtenstein one of the world’s leading financial centres.
“Casinos create a conflict between these two worlds,” he said.
Unlike their flamboyant cousins in Las Vegas or Macau, Liechtenstein’s casinos are modest. There are no casinos that have fireworks displays or are known for never sleeping – no, these casinos focus more on slots and tables. And since gamblers are allowed to light up while playing, they’re also smoky.
The gambling boom in Liechtenstein dates back to 2017, with two casinos opening that year. Three more followed soon after, and the other two are scheduled to open by the end of this year.
The casinos are predominantly operated by foreign operators: two by Casinos Austria International and two by Novomatic, an Austrian gambling company and slot machine manufacturer. corruption scandal in his home country. The fifth casino and most of the others planned will also be foreign-run.
Thomas Gstöhl, head of gambling control at the Office of Economic Affairs, said the rush to the casino surprised everyone. “No one would have thought that five or more casinos could open in Liechtenstein,” he said.
Mr Gstöhl, whose division allocates casino licenses, said experts estimate that the country’s market is relatively small and no more than two applications are expected.
One reason the gambling industry has taken root in small Liechtenstein is its free market values. (Neighboring Switzerland and Austria restrict the number of casinos they allow.)
The tax system is another: Liechtenstein charges between 17.5 percent and 40 percent tax on gambling income, depending on how much the casino wins. In Austria, the rate starts from 30 percent, in Switzerland it starts from 40 percent and goes up to 80 percent.
Most of the income Lichtenstein’s casinos earn comes from foreign gamblers. Official statistics show that not even a third of the nearly 400,000 visits last year were made by people living in the country.
Thomas Pirron, manager of Casino Schaanwald near the Austrian border, said most of the visitors to his casino are from Austria. He said many are drawn to the range of slots on offer, but others enjoy the relative privacy that cross-border travel allows.
“People are getting a little further from home because they don’t want their neighbors to see their cars in front of the casino,” said Mr Pirron. “Casino is still a seedy thing in people’s minds.”
Opposition to the casino industry in Liechtenstein grows higher with each opening. And the increasing interest made the industry nervous. He says the market will eventually regulate itself and the number of casinos will likely eventually drop to four.
But for some government officials, that may not happen anytime soon. Liechtenstein’s deputy prime minister, Sabine Monauni, told a local newspaper that the time has come for policymakers to act “to avoid turning into Las Vegas.”
Indeed, the government has recently announced that it is making regulations in the gambling industry’s working conditions – which will come into effect in 2022 – that make it more costly for casinos to operate and put the smallest ones the hardest.
Many in Liechtenstein are worried that the casino boom could negatively impact the country’s reputation.
From the Liechtenstein Institute, Dr. Frommelt said the country has transformed its financial industry in recent years in an effort to distance itself from its past. tax haven tainted by a string of scandals. While government officials said gambling is Liechtenstein’s most regulated industry, many opponents of casinos said they were concerned that they could be used for money laundering.
Critics also pointed to Liechtenstein’s willingness to welcome gamblers banned from casinos in neighboring countries as a possible ethical issue.
For example, to play the slots at the Grand Casino recently, Switzerland’s St. Take Josef Uenes, who drove about 40 minutes from his home near the city of St. He said he was traveling to Liechtenstein for a very simple reason: “I was banned from casinos in Switzerland,” he said.
Swiss casinos, like their Liechtenstein counterparts, are required to ban those who are considered to have a gambling addiction or who regularly play beyond their means. However, lists of banned players are not currently exchanged across borders.
Mr Uenes, a device dealer, said Swiss casinos were “very close to home”, noting that he actually blacklisted his own name in Switzerland.
That’s why he occasionally travels to Liechtenstein to gamble. He said that he once won about 32,000 Swiss francs, or about 35,000 dollars, in one of the principality’s casinos. “I love the adrenaline rush,” he said.
This time, however, things did not go as he wanted and he dropped 1,800 francs in 90 minutes.
“The evening was not a success,” said Mr Uenes, laughing.
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