Finnish online gambling policies can be confusing at times. This week's call by Finland's culture and sport minister, Stefan Wallin, was a stunner – he suggested that the government should run an online poker service in order to woo punters away from foreign poker sites.
 
According to Newsroom Finland reports, the minister would be quite happy to see the Slot Machine Association (Ray), or the state's lottery and betting monopoly, Veikkaus, assume responsibility for regulating online poker, and that the resulting revenue increase could be spent to fund public services and fight gambling addiction.
“It is difficult to halt the rise in the popularity of online poker. It would be better to offer players a legal and responsible alternative,” said Wallin. “Responsibility would mean setting an 18 age limit and requiring players to identify themselves.”
 
The minister seems to be looking at the state monopoly model used by Sweden as an example, emphasizing that Svenska Spel, the Swedish state-owned lottery and gaming group, had been authorized to provide poker services over the internet, and the initiative had been very successful. On a per capita basis, Finns come in at fourth place in the world for gambling expenditure. Currently there is little restriction on Finns engaging in online games.
 
Last week the Finns were studying a report from a university working group commissioned by Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, proposing that the country’s Lotteries Act be strengthened to combat underage gambling and that online games be equipped with identification devices.

Gambling advertisements were also suggested as targets for state restriction, together with the innovative suggestion that losing players could reclaim their deposits in “illegal” gambling cases.

Back to February 2008 Online Gambling News
Back to latest Online Gambling News
Back to Online Gambling Archive