Monopoly coming to an end - License applications are flooding towards Finland

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The monopoly of the national Finnish gambling provider Veikkaus is coming to an end. This is a big change for a country where gambling has basically been very controlled since the 1940's. Finland is currently taking its next steps towards licensing model which opens the market for competition in July.

According to Finnish broadcasting company Yle, Finland has so far received 75 license applications. The number exceeds expectations that were between 40-60 applications.

This is clearly a signal that small Finland with its close to six million people is seen as a lucrative market. In comparison our neighbor Sweden (population 10.7 million) has currently 89 active licenses.

Finnish officials have not yet approved any of the applications but first approvals might be seen at the end of this year.

Expectations between different groups vary. Some see troubles ahead, and others embrace the financial opportunities that arrive with increased marketing spending.

Finnish news link.
 
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I think a better title would have been "Monopoly is Finnished" 😉
 
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Isn't online poker already legal in Finland? Grok says yes......I assume this is mainly for sports betting so.

@rei signo ..... Agree 110% about the Finns being great at stuff when they put their minds too it and spend time doing something. Some of the best and fastest sim-racers on Iracing are Finns also all them good decent and funny guys. Quite honestly Finns offer some of the tough competition in any sim or game I've ever played my whole life not just Iracing and typically always very friendly and easy going. But dam them are Finns are very competitive.

Cheers!!!
 
hardongear said:
Isn't online poker already legal in Finland? Grok says yes......I assume this is mainly for sports betting so.
Click to expand...
It is legal but this affects poker too. Lot of the money has flown outside our borders which has made the monopoly ineffective.
2023 they tried to make it impossible to transfer money to other sites but that didn't stick.

I wrote a post about. Also my two comments to DS3 are worth while info.
Tero

Thread 'Finland moves forward with measures against online gaming'

It is a sad moment for online poker players and sports bettors in Finland. The plans that were published over a year ago have now taken another step.

According to Finnish tabloid Iltalehti (Finnish link) The Parliament of Finland has approved the new Lottery Act on Tuesday December 14th. Starting from January 1st 2023 banks are required to block money transfers to selected game providers.

The original Lottery Act proposal contained a demand to block also withdrawals but that turned out to be against the constitution so it was dropped.

How providers are selected?

This...
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So now, with a different government and even with heavy resistance across the field, the monopoly is put to its coffin.
 
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Tero said:
It is legal but this affects poker too. Lot of the money has flown outside our borders which has made the monopoly ineffective.
2023 they tried to make impossible to transfer money to other sites but that didn't stick.

I wrote a post about. Also my two comments to DS3 are worth while info.
Tero

Thread 'Finland moves forward with measures against online gaming'

It is a sad moment for online poker players and sports bettors in Finland. The plans that were published over a year ago have now taken another step.

According to Finnish tabloid Iltalehti (Finnish link) The Parliament of Finland has approved the new Lottery Act on Tuesday December 14th. Starting from January 1st 2023 banks are required to block money transfers to selected game providers.

The original Lottery Act proposal contained a demand to block also withdrawals but that turned out to be against the constitution so it was dropped.

How providers are selected?

This...
  • Like

So now, with a different government and even with heavy resistance across the field, the monopoly is put to its coffin.
Click to expand...
Thanks for clarifying Tero. I'll give them links a look later.

Cheers!!!
 
There are already finnish players on PokerStars, so apparently it has been possible to play there, even it was not "legal". But perhaps withdrawals and deposits will become easier now, which could result in more people playing. Sweden did something similar back in 2019.
 
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fundiver199 said:
There are already finnish players on PokerStars, so apparently it has been possible to play there, even it was not "legal". But perhaps withdrawals and deposits will become easier now, which could result in more people playing. Sweden did something similar back in 2019.
Click to expand...
I haven't had any issues with money transfers so far (except the additional hoops that poker sites themselves ask to jump), and I do have a Stars account. But to my knowledge Pokerstars has not yet left an application for our license model.
 
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Competition can be a good thing . Let's hope in works out in Finland .Good luck !
 
Is there a rivalry between Finns and Swedes? Here, we love to hate Argentines—that’s normal. The Chinese and Japanese have their own beefs too, as do India and Pakistan, and so on.
 
marco198121 said:
Is there a rivalry between Finns and Swedes?
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Mainly in sports, and specially in ice hockey. Other than that we coexist quite nicely 😊
 
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Tero said:
The monopoly of the national Finnish gambling provider Veikkaus is coming to an end. This is a big change for a country where gambling has basically been very controlled since the 1940's. Finland is currently taking its next steps towards licensing model which opens the market for competition in July.

According to Finnish broadcasting company Yle, Finland has so far received 75 license applications. The number exceeds expectations that were between 40-60 applications.

This is clearly a signal that small Finland with its close to six million people is seen as a lucrative market. In comparison our neighbor Sweden (population 10.7 million) has currently 89 active licenses.

Finnish officials have not yet approved any of the applications but first approvals might be seen at the end of this year.

Expectations between different groups vary. Some see troubles ahead, and others embrace the financial opportunities that arrive with increased marketing spending.

Finnish news link.
Click to expand...

File 00000000045c81f6bb039924d2838257
 
I am fearful of this. Winamax will likely not apply for license. Licensing model has been barbaric for many countries, Sweden, Belgium etc... Rakeback and bonuses are at risk. I think this will end poorly and lets be honest, it's essentially a politics trick, until we fix our corrupt public sector nothing good can come from our government.

Everything in world is in crisis
 
At least there is no end date for sending applications. Those who wish to join later can wait. Although it might not be strategically wise.
 
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