Finland banning casino bonuses could create more movement toward other Baltic casinos

Finland has a bustling gambling scene. In fact, Finns are the most active gamblers in the world, right after the Australians and the Japanese. Every year, Finns spend billions of euros on gambling, and a lot of this goes to international online casinos.

In this article, we take a look at the Finnish history of gambling as well as some of the current developments in the Finnish gambling scene. This includes diving into the subject of Finland potentially banning casino bonuses within its upcoming regulation model and what this could mean in the grand scheme of things.

84 years of Finnish gambling

As a phenomenon, gambling has been around for thousands of years. According to rumors, even the construction of the Great Wall of China was at least partly financed with proceeds from Chinese keno games.

In Finland, the official gambling history began in 1940 when the Finnish state-run monopoly was born. Initially, the company now known as Veikkaus, was known as Oy Tippaustoimisto Ab. Over 80 years later, the monopoly is still somewhat in place, but it is soon to give way to a new, more open regulation model.

At the time of writing, the current plan is for Finland to move to a regulated gambling model at the start of 2027. With this model, gambling companies outside of Finland will be let into the market and allowed to offer their services legally to the 5.5 million Finnish citizens.

With the current gambling landscape, Finns are already allowed, by EU law, to play anywhere online. However, outside companies cannot yet advertise or run their services within Finnish borders.

Reasons for why Finland is starting to regulate

Despite having a monopoly on gambling on paper, Finland has recently been losing a lot of money to outside gambling companies. In August 2022, Veikkaus made a historic announcement saying that it would like to get rid of its own monopoly. This was mainly due to the immense pressure put on it by the government to make sure Finns would keep their gambling inside of the Finnish borders. In true Don Quijote fashion, Veikkaus felt like it was having to fight windmills, having to deal with strict regulations, and still being pressured to compete with other companies.

Veikkaus also noted that its channeling powers had become weaker as nearly 50% of all Finnish gambling was already directed outside the system. Because of this, Veikkaus hoped to bring its competitors within the same system to compete with the same rules and regulations in place.

The first draft of the new Finnish gambling system bans casino bonuses

Both international gambling companies and Finnish casino players had to wait anxiously for the first draft legislation of the new system to be released. When it finally saw the light of day, many critics were vocal about how the state wants to ban most online casino marketing as well as casino welcome bonuses as reported by nonstickybonukset.net.

For years, online casino welcome bonuses have been a huge reason why Finnish people have turned to outside casinos for their entertainment. To many, not allowing these bonuses to exist, is a surefire way to make the new Finnish system fail.

While outside online casino companies will soon be able to pay for a Finnish license, there is a growing concern that many may opt not to and keep operating as they currently are. After all, even when the Finnish system breaks, outside casinos will still be able to operate legally outside of the borders and keep offering players bonuses.

Unless welcome bonuses are allowed, the Finnish government may end up wasting and losing out on a lot of money without actually solving any problems in the process.

Conclusion: Baltic casinos could benefit from Finland’s mistakes

Many Finnish people today choose to play at casinos licensed by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board. If the terms and conditions for the new system will not be made fair enough, some of these Baltic casinos may also opt not to purchase the Finnish license. The changes could then even work in their favor with some of their competitors likely surrendering their bonus benefits. In other words, paying for the Finnish license might actually end up being more of a detriment or even a kiss of death rather than an advantage.

It will be interesting to see what the next draft version will be like.