Switzerland’s Gambling Supervisory Authority (GESPA) has officially lodged a complaint against FIFA’s NFT platform, FIFA Collect, asserting that the platform operates as an unlicensed gambling service. GESPA announced the complaint on Friday, claiming that the platform’s ‘competitions’ which offer user rewards through airdrop campaigns and challenges encompass gambling elements as defined by Swiss law due to the randomness of prize distribution.

“Participation in the competitions is only viable with a financial stake, resulting in potential monetary rewards. The outcome for participants relies on random selection methods.”

According to GESPA, these offerings represent a mix of lotteries and sports betting. The only two legally sanctioned sports betting providers in Switzerland are Sporttip and Jouez Sport.

Cointelegraph attempted to contact FIFA and Modex, the Web3 provider supporting FIFA Collect, but had not received a response prior to publication.

This regulatory complaint underscores the challenges faced by new technologies like NFTs and Web3 services as regulators seek to place them within existing legal frameworks.

GESPA Initiates Investigation into FIFA Collect

In October, GESPA began its investigation into FIFA Collect based on its ‘Right to Buy’ NFTs that grant ticket reservation privileges for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

These NFTs allow buyers the option to purchase a ticket at the standard market price, addressing the prevalent issue of price inflation in secondary marketplaces during major sporting events.

FIFA Collect was launched in 2022 on the Algorand blockchain, and has since issued several NFT collections. Additionally, FIFA announced plans to transition to its proprietary blockchain, known as the FIFA blockchain, a layer-1 subnet on the Avalanche platform.