Founded in Switzerland in 1937, Swisslos are a lottery and sports betting company who operate on a non-profit basis. Originally Swisslos operated lotteries only until 2003 when they launched Sporttip, which is their sports betting brand.
Swisslos are licensed by Swiss regulator, Gespa, who were formerly known as Comlot until this year.
There is no affiliate program for Swisslos. As they are non-profit, maybe they feel there is no need to try to maximise profit by encouraging gambling through affiliate programmes.
Swisslos are unique as they operate as a non-profit organisation with the entirety of any net profits made being transferred to the German speaking cantons (states) of Switzerland as well as Liechtenstein to support public causes.
Design
The design of Swisslos’ website is very bold with the black background, white fonts and boxes. The website is not cluttered at all; however, this is in part down to the minimal number of sports that Swisslos offer betting on.
The website is very easy to understand with the sports categorised down the left-hand side of the screen and the betting slip on the right. The order of the sports appears to be in the order of popularity rather than ABC. Clicking Soccer, for example, will then give you sub-categories such as UEFA Champions League, England or Germany.
Swisslos also has a mobile app which you can download on Android, Apple and the Huawei AppGallery store. The mobile app and mobile browsers both feature the same branding as the desktop version.
Services
Swisslos offers sports betting through their Sporttip service, as well as lotteries such as the Swiss Lotto and the Euromillions and games such as Jass, Bingo and Clix, which is a selection of instant ticket games. There are no typical casino games such as Roulette or Blackjack.
The only sports which Swisslos offer betting on are Football, Ice Hockey, Tennis, Motor Sport, Handball, Basketball, Volleyball, American Football, Rugby Union, Rugby League, Golf, Cycling and Baseball.
The margins on the bets vary by a wide margin with some football matches ranging from 7.5% to 13.75%. With such inconsistent margins it is difficult to say whether the bettor is getting value for money.
Live
According to Swisslos’ rules of play, the only sports not offered for live betting are Motor Sports, Cycling and Golf. Unfortunately, Swisslos does not offer live streaming for any of their sports. They do, however, give a live text commentary though which can be found by clicking on the microphone when you are looking at a specific live event.
The margins given on the live betting odds appear to be more consistent, ranging between 5-7%.
Freebies, bonuses and promotions
There are no free bets offered on the Swisslos website. There is also no sign of any loyalty programs. You can play the trial version of the Clix games so that you have an idea of how they work before you stake real money, but that appears to be the only thing you will get for free with Swisslos.
Customer care
Swisslos’ customer care team are available on the telephone from Monday to Saturday. The hours of service vary depending on what day it is. There is no live chat function so if you would prefer not to speak to Swisslos over the phone you can either email them or fill out a contact form and they will reply to you as soon as they can.
When using the contact form for the purposes of this review, there has been no response for over two days. However, when emailing them they do respond anywhere between one hour or one day depending on when you email.
Registration
Unfortunately, the only people who can register with Swisslos are those who reside in the German speaking cantons of Switzerland and also the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Financial information
The only accepted currency is the Swiss Franc (CHF). The minimum bet allowed on single bets is 1.00 CHF (approximately 79p), and the maximum bet allowed on singles is 1000 CHF (approximately £790). For system bets the maximum allowed is 10000 CHF (approximately £7900).
There is no information within Swisslos’ rules that says how much the maximum payout on bets is. However, with the maximum bet capped at a relatively low amount it is doubtful you will be able to win very large sums of money.
Reliability, integrity and safety
Unfortunately for Swisslos, all reviews found on Trustpilot are rated bad with complaints regarding technical issues and the low likelihood according to customers of winning on Clix. There is even a review from someone who claims to be an insider who speaks of how it is unlikely that the first batch of lots will ever have the main prize within it.
The website itself, although basic, does appear to be safe. It is SSL encrypted for example. There is a lot of information on the website about the encryption and what to expect from the website as well as some education on lottery scams and what not to do if you receive any emails or letters from anyone posing as Swisslos.
What’s missing?
It is clear looking at the Sporttip arm of Swisslos that Swisslos’ main focus is on the lotteries. The selection of sports that Swisslos provides covers the main sports but that’s about it. To attract more customers a varying range of sports should be offered, as well as classic casino games such as Poker, Roulette and Blackjack.
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