There are three bodies in Finland who want the end of illegal gambling operators: the Finnish police, the THL organization and the Traficom authority. These three institutions plead for illegal gambling operators to be punished, just like the media that will promote these operators. The 3 institutions are considering the license withdrawal as a sanction for media supports that will be found guilty of violating the rules in force on the promotion of gambling. For Veikkaus, the only legal operator in the country, they recommend linking the company’s advertising campaign to the current advertising decoration.
A common desire to limit the spread of illegal gambling
The Finnish authorities are in an unprecedented phase in the fight against illegal gambling. The Finnish National Police Office has announced a stronger policy, in association with Traficom, the Finnish Transport and Communication Authority. The announced policy aims to make life difficult for illegal gambling. The logic is to severely punish the country’s illegal gambling operators. But the punishment will not be limited to them.
The two players also intend to punish media operators who will pass the advertising spots of these illegal gambling operators. Thus, televisions and radios which will be found guilty of advertising collaboration with illegal gambling operators will be subject to severe penalties. The Finnish National Police and Traficom are also planning to withdraw the licenses altogether from actors who have been guilty of repeated violation of the laws concerning the promotion of games of chance.
Next to the National Police and the Traficom authority, there is the Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos or THL. The latter organization is in fact the Finnish National Institute for Health and Social Welfare. A few weeks earlier, she had asked the only legal player in the game of chance in Finland to align its advertising campaigns with the regulatory requirements in terms of communication in the country. This main actor is called Veikkaus. For THL, the words used by Veikkaus do not sufficiently inform about the risks involved in gambling.
The organization also pleads so that in terms of advertising requirements, games of chance are treated like alcohol and tobacco. It is therefore Veikkaus who is referred to here.
Veikkaus, the only authorized operator in Finland, is not spared
In Finland, Veikkaus is the only gambling operator to have a license which allows it to offer games of chance to punters in the country. It was created in 2017 through the merger of three renowned operators. These are the Veikkaus Lottery, the horse racing operator Fintoto, and the Finnish Slot Machine Association Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY). It is also the only operator authorized to promote gambling. All other operators apart from Veikkaus are deemed illegal in the country. It is the latter who have given Veikkaus a hard time for years, and who are the main targets of the firm policy to be undertaken by Traficom, THL and the Finnish National Police.
Regarding the THL recommendations, Velipekka Nummikoski, Managing Director of Veikkaus, responds by talking about his company. For him, the advertising his company offers is no more aggressive than that of its international competitors. He adds that the pace of the market is putting his future income on hold. Indeed, he points out that the gambling market is gradually becoming denser on the Internet to the detriment of the real world. Bettors now prefer to play at home, rather than in the bar, or the store around the corner. Veikkaus also notes that more than 30% of its turnover comes from its online platform. The company also reveals that it had an income qualified as “stable” compared to 2018 which amounts to approximately 438 million euros. Also, its turnover fell 4% to 774 million euros. The company is also planning to invest several million euros in its digital migration.
But beyond these arguments, reality remains what it is. Indeed, a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, and conducted by Finnish statistics, Helsinki University, and the prevention group Peliklinikka shows that the situation of the bettor has not improved for two years. Since Veikkaus was established in 2017, problems with gambling have increased. The number of compulsive gamblers has increased dramatically. It is probably this state of affairs that led residents to launch a petition to ask Veikkaus to reduce the number of these machines in gas stations, and in convenience stores.
According to Paf: The Veikkaus online gambling monopoly in Finland must end
According to Finnish gaming operator Paf, the country must end the state monopoly on online gambling held by Veikkaus if it is to be more successful in dealing with illegal gambling.
In an opinion piece published in local media, Paf CEO Christer Fahlstedt argues that “the problems in the Finnish gaming industry could be solved with a regulated licensing system.”
Fahlstedt believes that the government will not achieve its goals of blocking Finnish players from accessing online sites that compete with Veikkaus as long as the state operator maintains the monopoly.
Although Paf also has the monopoly on online gambling in the autonomous region of the Swedish-speaking Åland Islands in Finland, the company has tried in recent years to reduce its reliance on high-profile players. Despite the fact that these initiatives have had a negative impact on the company’s financial performance. Finnish casino state-owned company Veikkaus has also had to put restrictions on its players after a number of questionable situations and cases that highlighted its lack of commitment to responsible gambling. Added to this is its dubious transparency in the purchase contracts.
