Liechtenstein votes resoundingly towards banning casinos

ZURICH (Reuters) – Voters in Liechtenstein on Sunday roundly rejected a proposed ban on casinos in a referendum that has polarized the tiny principality and its 40,000 residents.

With six casinos dotted throughout the nation that could be a tenth of the scale of London, the microstate has been dubbed the “Las Vegas of the Alps” amongst punters.

Professional-ban arguments on points like playing dependancy and potential injury to the rich nation’s repute had been, nevertheless, resoundingly swept apart since 73% of those that voted rejected the ban and 27% backed it, with a turnout of 70%, in response to the official depend revealed on-line.

The referendum, and the signatures wanted to set off it, had been caused by strain group IG Volksmeinung, fashioned to struggle the “on line casino flood”.

They argue that the fledgling trade dangers tarnishing a nationwide picture that the state has labored exhausting to restore. The nation was on a global blacklist of tax havens till it started easing financial institution secrecy legal guidelines greater than a decade in the past.

Previous to the vote, the nation’s prince spoke out towards the ban, as did the federal government, which stated the playing trade is a vital supply of earnings and argued {that a} ban was too drastic a measure to deal with issues like playing dependancy.

(Reporting by Noele Illien; Extra reporting by Francois Murphy in Vienna; Enhancing by Toby Chopra)