Finland to Ban Online Poker Using Payback Amendment?

The ability of Finnish online poker players to continue playing their favorite pastime may become seriously affected if Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health's plans move forward to introduce an amendment to Finland's online gambling laws to enable Internet gamblers to claim back their losses by being paid by either the firm providing the online poker services, a credit card company, or the winning player in the game.

The Ministry feels that if such a law were enacted, foreign operators of Internet poker sites would likely prevent Finnish players from taking part in the game, effectively banning Finnish players, since a player protected by such a law would be too great a risk to the game organizer.

A University of Joensuu report made public 17 January by Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest daily subscription-based newspaper in Scandinavia, and Finland's leading national paper, revealed the idea for the amendment.

The Ministry commissioned the University to look into ways of protecting gambling addicts and children from the dangers of online gambling.

The idea of a payback scheme was conceived by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health civil servants together with the compiler of the report, the University of Joensuu professor of Law and Economics Kalle Maatta. According to Maatta, such a law does not yet exist anywhere in the world.

The idea of the law is not to force citizens to stop gambling online, but merely to provide them with the opportunity to claim back their losses that they incurred while, for example, they played online poker when drunk.

ONLINE POKER NOT CONTROLLED BY FINNISH GOV'T

Finland's Gambling market is divided between three governing bodies, including: Veikkaus Oy (The Finnish National Lottery -Finland's national betting agency for lottery and sports betting, managed by the Finnish Ministry of Education), RAY (The Slot Machine Association who operates and oversees casino games, slot machines and table games), or Fintoto Oy (runs pari-mutuel wagering on horses and online games).

Though gambling in Finland is organized as a national monopoly, it is worth noting that online poker games are not managed by Finnish government agencies.

Industry observers postulate that shutting down online poker would not help gambling addicts, but merely drive gamblers to state-managed activities, which could be the underlying purpose of the law.

HOLES IN THE IDEA

The University report does not specify exactly how such legislation could be enforced. The Ministry is aware, for example, of the technical difficulties such a law would involve, and is therefore waiting to hear comments on the idea. The Ministry suspects that if the law is effective, in time other countries might draw up similar laws.

According to the social authorities, an online poker operation is based on the same kind of pyramid system used in network sales businesses, where gambling addicts on the lowest levels of the pyramid pay the winners at the top of the pyramid. "If the damage caused to those at the bottom of the pyramid far exceed the benefits reaped by random players, something needs to be done", Kalle Maatta says.

Finns are quite eager players at online poker-tables. Around EUR 150 million a year (about USD $220 million, or GBP 110 million) is thought to be taken by online poker firms from Finns alone.

Measured against head of population, the Finns are fourth in the world tables of spending on gambling. The newspaper says that around 40,000 Finns have problems arising out of a gambling habit, which is as many as in The Netherlands, a country with three times the population.

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