Net Bet Blog

There have been rumours that Finland has been considering banning online gaming (as other EU countries have done).

In an excellent white paper it is clear that the Finnish governmnet have employed someone, Professor Kalle Määttä, who actually knows what he is talking about and has clear and rational arguments for his recommendations.

Finland deserves a round of applause for this document.

The implications may still be fairly serious. Whilst unlikely that punters will be able to clainm their money back if they lose, then that is unlikely. The other suggestions such as making advertising harder etc. are more worrying.

At least state owned poker as in Swenden appears to be correctly rules out.

Finland’s Gambling Investigation Explained [Gaming Intelligence]

A news report this week in Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat newspaper has sent rumours of an online gaming ban flying. Gaming Intelligence Group spoke to Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health as well as the author of the white paper which sparked the news, to find out what really lies ahead for the industry in Finland.

The white paper submitted by Professor Kalle Määttä from the University of Joensuu, is just one part of a much wider report commissioned by Mr. Kari Paaso, Director of Substance Abuse & Addictions at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The report was commissioned by the Ministry in order to help identify ways in which the State could reduce gambling problems amongst children and gambling addicts, through greater regulation of gambling within the framework of Finnish and European Law.

One of the main recommendations of this report was that the minimum age requirement for playing slot machines, toto (betting) and loto be raised from 15 to 18 years old. Each of these games are operated by a separate government monopoly, RAY, Fintoto and Veikkaus.

As part of the report, Law and Economics Professor Kalle Määttä was asked to outline the legal possibilities for regulating the provision of online gambling services from abroad in order to limit gambling problems.

In his white paper, Professor Määttä suggests that it could be impossible to regulate foreign online gambling companies serving Finland, but says that gambling problems could be reduced by making it difficult for such companies to offer services there.

Professor Määttä offers three ways in which the government could achieve this.

The first would be to restrict the flow of funds to and from foreign gambling providers. The second would be to require internet service providers to block access to foreign gambling sites. The third would be to give consumers a legal right to recover their losses from foreign gambling sites if they were deemed illegal.

According to Professor Määttä, “This is the first large scale problem gambling report of its kind in Finland and is intended to start a discussion on the subject. The report is therefore based on international discussions on what should and should not be permissible and how the industry can be regulated in accordance with national law as well as EC law.”

Mr. Kari Paaso from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said that the report is now before the Committee of Internal Affairs who have been tasked with formulating any amendments to the Finnish Lottery Law.

“The Committee has until the end of 2008 to evaluate the report in consultation with relevant experts, and to publish its decision on whether to accept the various recommendations of the report,” he said.

“Those recommendations which the Committee accepts will be drafted as a Bill and submitted to Parliament early next year.”

Any amendment to the Lottery Law could be expected within the first half of 2009.

On the question of whether Finland would offer state-controlled online gambling in the event of foreign operators being banned, Mr. Paaso was unequivocal. “There will be no opportunities. The government will not offer something like the Swedish online poker site. It does not seem right, on the one hand offering online poker to your citizens, and on the other hand blocking others from doing the same.”

“If online gambling is harmful to Finnish citizens, we will be clear about it and offer no online gambling opportunities.”

If, as has been stated, the purpose of this investigation is to limit the dangers of problem gambling, the industry would do well to engage now with the Finnish government in order to identify proportionate means of achieving this.