As constituents of Finland's tripartite gambling monopoly continue to weigh offering certain games online, including poker, the country's government remains undecided on how best to proceed with its regulatory efforts.
In Finland, the Lotteries Act covers the gambling market. Under the associated licensing regime only one license is issued for each type of gambling activity. This system creates a monopolistic position and, at present, each of the three licenses is held by a state-owned company.
Veikkaus Oy is the license holder for lottery, fixed odds, and pool betting activities. RAY, the slot machine association, is permitted to operate casinos, casino games, and slot machines, while Fintoto runs tote horse betting. Any other company seeking to offer gambling products to Finnish residents is, therefore, deemed to be committing an offense.
Following the parliamentary elections in March 2007, Matti T. Vanhanen, Finland's prime minister, set out the government’s program
for the coming parliamentary session, which included a statement about gambling:
"The Government will take action to contain the social problems associated with gambling, to prevent crime, uphold the exclusive right to organise money games and to ensure that adequate resources are available to the authorities to restrict the supply of illegal games," it said.
As part of efforts to achieve this mission, a report was commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. One section of the report, published in January 2008, was an assessment by Kalle Määttä, professor of law and economics at the University of Jonensuu, of possible options for regulating online gambling.
Dr. Määttä’s report puts forward the reasons as to why online gambling should be regulated: to address the risk of problem gambling and/or gambling addiction; to prevent underage gambling; and to combat money laundering and criminal activity. (For those familiar with the United Kingdom's Gambling Act 2005, notice that its aims are very similar to those that Dr. Määttä highlights.)
The report then assesses different methods of regulating online gambling that have been used in various jurisdictions, including legislation to prohibit the activity and gambling taxation. But it focuses on three options that have subsequently been included in draft legislation: requiring Finnish Internet service providers to block access to foreign gambling Web sites; preventing the transfer of funds between gambling operators and customers; or creating legislation to allow customers to claim back their losses.
The last of these three proposals is certainly the most radical. The suggestion is that players would be able to have any losses refunded, either by the operator of the Web site or by the credit card company that was involved in the transaction. The apparent reasoning behind the idea is that Finnish players would become too much of a financial risk for gambling operators to want to take their business.
Shortly after the publication of health ministry's report, Stefan Wallin, Finland's minister of culture and sport, used his blog to discuss the idea of an online poker network in Finland operated by one of the existing license holders. In response to Mr. Wallin’s comments, representatives from RAY and Veikkaus Oy in March told Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish daily, that they were capable of delivering a poker network.
"It (a poker network) is not an impossible idea at all, should the government and the gaming license holders so agree," said Ilkka Juva, communications director at Veikkaus Oy. "We have plenty of technical and business experience in such matters."
Indeed, the company already offers online gambling and in 2007 generated turnover of 251.8 million euros in 2007 from 378,000 online customers (101 million euros from betting games; 57.3 million euros from lotto games; 93.6 million euros from other games).
At RAY’s general meeting in March, Jukka Vihriälä, its chairman, announced the company was considering making its games available on the Internet.
"We are considering under what judicial, political, financial and ethical conditions Internet distribution would be possible," he said. "We need to consider very carefully whether Internet distribution would unsettle the conditions for RAY’s independence and exclusive right to the extent that the risk is not worth taking."
The outcome of this consideration has yet to be revealed.
Meanwhile, since its January publication, whatever progress Mr. Wallin’s online poker proposal has made is not apparent. Recent figures from Helsinki’s Debt Counselling Office, however, could bring online poker nearer the top of the government's agenda, as the number of online poker players with debt problems has doubled in 2008.
Speaking to Finland’s public service broadcaster in March, YLE, Marianne Rikama, head of Helsinki’s Debt Counselling Office, revealed that, "in the past, we assisted online poker players a few times a year, or a few times a month. But now we help online poker players daily." A rising trend of players seeking help with debt does not fit well with the government’s stated aim to "contain the social problems associated with gambling."
If the trend continues, it could spur the government into increasing its efforts to prevent Finnish residents from accessing foreign sites. The government might also launch a state-run network in the belief that it will have more control of players and, thereby, identify and treat problem gamblers.
The pronouncements and reports from various sectors of the Finnish gambling industry give private operators less cause for optimism than those emanating from Sweden, where the notion of ending or selling off the monopoly has at least been suggested. In Finland, the government still talks of wanting to "uphold the exclusive right to organise money games" -- even Mr. Wallin’s idea for an online poker network relied upon it being operated by an existing license holder.
As is the case in markets across Europe, it will take time for any changes to be implemented in the Finnish gambling market. The current phase of research, review, and appraisal is only likely to be completed by the end of 2008. But the next parliamentary elections in Finland are scheduled for 2011, so there is scope for legislative change to take place before then.