The Finnish court in Mariehamn, the capital of the autonomous Åland Islands, ruled today that PAF is not allowed to market its online betting in mainland Finland.
PAF, the Åland Islands' Slot Machine Association, launched its sports betting site in December 1999. Its casino site started in June 2000, and in April of this year the group added lotteries to its game portfolio.
The group's senior vice president, Karl Gustaf Pietilä, said PAF will appeal the decision that was made today by the Finnish court. He called the ruling a disappointment, but said PAF would take the matter to the supreme court in Turku.
The Ministry of the Interior had questioned the permit of the Internet games granted to PAF by the Åland provincial government, and in April the Finnish supreme court decided that PAF was allowed to set up an online gambling site.
Contesting the decision means that PAF is in for a David-versus-Goliath battle with the Finnish government and the monopolistic Finnish betting operator Veikkaus.
The Åland Islands are a group of more than 6,500 islands in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. The population is approximately 26,000. Although the islands have a certain form of autonomy, they still form a province in Finland.
For centuries the Åland Islands belonged to the crown of Sweden, as was the case with Finland as a whole. In 1951 the autonomy of the islands was renounced by the Finnish parliament but the inhabitants got special rights, including their own flag.
PAF only accepts customers from Finland and Sweden. Early next year, however, an English version of the games will be added to the site. PAF has about 35,000 customers; about half of them use the site on a monthly basis.