FICKLE FINNS

25 January 2008

Last week there was talk of bans and reimbursing losing players....this week the suggestion is a state poker operation!


Finnish online gambling policies can be confusing at times, as witnessed by this week's call by Stefan Wallin, Finland's culture and sport minister, that the government should run an online poker service in order to woo punters away from foreign poker sites.

Newsroom Finland reports that the minister would be satisfied if the Slot Machine Association (Ray) or Veikkaus, the state's lottery and betting monopoly, assumed the 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," Wallin said. "Responsibility would mean setting an 18 age limit and requiring players to identify themselves."

The minister seems to have the state monopoly model used by Sweden in mind, emphasising that Svenska Spel, the Swedish state-owned lottery and gaming group, had been authorised to provide poker services over the internet, and the initiative had been very successful.

Last week (see previous InfoPowa report) 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. Evocative 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.

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.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa