Facts
The Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) appealed against the decision of the Appeals Commission of the Intercantonal Agreement on Lotteries and Bets, which had granted Swisslos Intercantonal National Lottery a "General License for the Lottery Product Family of Advance Physical Tickets". The FDJP argued that neither federal law nor intercantonal law knows a framework license for a specific category of lotteries and that a license must be obtained for each individual lottery.
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the Comlot was generally entitled to grant the general license for this lottery product family. However, it saw deficiencies in the procedure, as the appeal procedure for the FDJP was made more difficult and Swisslos could effectively decide on the compliance with federal law of the individual lottery products. The Federal Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Appeals Commission and referred the matter back to the Comlot to supplement the ruling in accordance with the considerations.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the Lottery Concordat allows the cantons to transfer their competencies in the lottery sector to an intercantonal body. The Comlot can thus grant a central license for intercantonal or nationwide lotteries and bets, while the cantons continue to decide on the implementation in their territory.
The Federal Supreme Court considered the general license for the lottery product family of advance physical tickets to be permissible, as federal law does not necessarily require a license for each…