Finnish Online Casinos Gambling Monopoly
The Finnish government actually seems to be seriously circling the idea of
passing legislation that would form an online casinos gambling monopoly in the
country. The question of running state monopolies is coming under fire in the EU
right now, but at the same time, Finland is also actively look for an
implementable solution to effectively blocking and banning all online casino and
poker gambling activities. A complete ban is nearly unenforceable because of all
of the ways that gamblers can circumvent those restrictions. But a monopoly on
the other hand is actually quite effective in forcing a majority of the gamblers
through the state-run online casino monopoly. This is where it seems from recent
reports that Finland is headed.
Finland is no stranger to monopolies in other areas of the gambling and betting
industry, in fact two companies hold monopolies in the nation – Veikkaus runs
the state lottery and betting while the RAY Slot Machine Association holds the
monopoly for land slots. If online casinos gambling, betting, or poker were
legalized for a monopoly in Finland one of these two existing monopolies would
likely win the right to administer the gambling site.
According to a research study submitted to the Finnish government earlier this
year, the nation’s citizens are losing Euro 50 million each year to foreign
online casinos gambling companies. A state-run monopoly would allow the Finnish
government to not only benefit from the revenue that amount of gambled money
generates, but would also allow for strict protocols in terms of underage and
problem gamblers. Suomen Lehtiyhtymä, a Finnish newspaper group recently quoted
Ilkka Juva. Juva notes, "We could gather the majority of the revenue flowing
out. Certainly not all of it, but two thirds of Euro 50 million could be
attainable.” That two thirds represents lot of possible money going right into
the governments coffers and back into social programs within the country. |