Finland Fines Betsson €2.4 Million

Finland's National Police Board has fined operator Betsson operator BML Group a whopping €2.4 million after they found the company breached the Finnish Lotteries Act by illegally targeting players in the country for an extended period of time.

The board said that Betsson targeted players in the country via different means. The company was confronted about this multiple times and offered chances to amend its marketing practices. The company did respond with different changes, but these weren't sufficient for the Board, who opted to dish out the fine.

Gambling is legal in Finland, but only through the country's gambling monopoly Veikkaus, which is also the only company allowed to market betting services to customers.

In a statement, the National Police Board said, "The National Police Board estimated that BML has significant financial interest in continuing the activities and found that the illegal activities have continued for a long time regardless of the Board's previous control measures.

"The National Police Board reviewed the measures undertaken by the company to reduce marketing, and they were considered a mitigating factor when the amount of the conditional fine was determined."

In addition to the large fine, the company was also reminded that they're not allowed to directly or indirectly promote gambling services in Finland. This applies to indirect advertising, including featuring Finnish celebrities, podcasts that target Finnish players, and similar activities.

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