Finland May End Gambling Monopoly

The government of Finland may end their gambling monopoly in an effort to liberalize the market like neighboring Sweden has recently accomplished.

Finland's Prime Minister Antti Rinne apparently likes the Swedish online gambling framework and is keen to bring that system to his home country. The country has operated the Veikkaus monopoly for years, but that hasn't stopped Finns from visiting offshore sites to get better deals and games. PM Rinne says that Finland should stop trying to hold the monopoly while licensing operators to come in legally, while collecting tax revenues.

While some are in favor of bringing more operators on board, some feel that ending the monopoly would put various charities and organizations at risk of shutting down. The counterpoint is that the tax revenue collected from third party operators would make up for this, and legislation could protect those programs from becoming insolvent.

As it stands, online betting regulation in Finland is at its infancy, and will have a long way to go before it becomes law. We'll follow the story and update readers as we learn more.