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Will Finland Create a State Online Poker Monopoly?
Mon, Apr 21st, 2008 @ 12:00am
Though gambling in Finland is organized as a national monopoly, online poker has yet to be managed by government agencies; but the idea to do so is being rekindled according to comments from Veikkaus, Finland's national betting agency for lottery and sports betting, managed by the Finnish Ministry of Education.
Finland's Gambling market is divided between three governing bodies. In addition to Veikkaus Oy, who manages lottery and sports betting, there is RAY, the Slot Machine Association who operates and oversees casino games, slot machines and table games, as well as Fintoto Oy, who runs pari-mutuel wagering on horses and online games.
Following a report in Finnish newspaper Keski-Uusimaa that Finns spend as much as 50 million euros annually on foreign online poker sites, Veikkaus, said they felt they could keep a significant portion of that money within Finland and use it towards public projects.
"We could gather the majority of the revenue flowing out," said Ilkka Juva, communications manager for Veikkaus. "Certainly not all of it, but two thirds of 50 million euro could be attainable." Nearby Sweden's state-owned monopoly Svenska Spel could be used by Veikkaus as a business model, should the proposal move forward.
The STT news agency said recommendations for the reform of gambling in the country would be made around December.
NOT THE FIRST TIME ONLINE POKER IS TARGETED
This is not the first time Finnish government officials have eyed the revenues generated by online poker.
This past January, Finland's culture and sport minister Stefan Wallin claimed that the government should run an online poker service to bring the revenues earned by foreign operators back to Finland.
His proposal was in direct contrast to a proposal that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health had put forth a week earlier 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 move would effectively deter most foreign operators, since they would not wish to operated in a country requiring such refunds, leaving an effective Finnish state online poker monopoly.
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