Finland Feels the Pressure

The European Union may be applying some pressure to the government of Finland due to their resistance of permitting online casinos and internet gambling in their country. The European Union supports the free movement of services and that is the issue that they currently are facing with nations like Finland. In fact, in 2007 the European Commission told Finland that they were not meeting the regulations of the European Union. Finland was then given two months time to compensate for not holding up their end of the deal. If they could not follow the regulations of the European Union they had to supply the Union a good reason for why they could not change their legislation online casino play.

The issue with Finland is that they currently have a online casino monopoly within their very own borders. The only company allowed to provide the services that online casinos would be able to provide is Veikkas and it is the only company that the people of Finland can use if they are interested in internet gambling. The current stance in Finland is that they believe that with a monopoly they are able to better control the online casino industry and avoid the scandals that are often the product of having multiple online casinos. That is the reason that they gave to the European Union, unfortunately for Finland it was not good enough. The European Union is now in the process of filing agreement violations towards Finland.

The only company that is allowed to act as an online casino, Veikkas was established in 1940. The online casino’s website says that their daily revenue is Euro 1.1 million. A majority of the profits that are made by this online casino go straight back to the government and are then distributed to science, art, sports, and several other youth programs. That is not something that many online casinos can say… A spokesperson for the European Gaming and Betting Association commented on the state of Finland. He said: "These additional restrictions are, however, not aimed at enhancing consumer protection in a consistent and systematic manner, as they will not apply to the Finnish government's own gambling activities, which will still be allowed to conduct extensive and aggressive marketing campaigns." The EGBA secretary general, Sigrid Ligne added, "This shows all too clearly that the Finnish authorities have for the past two years - during which the Commission has been delaying Finland's referral to the European Court of Justice - enhanced their protectionist legislation rather than removed it."