The National Police Board of Finland April 7 levied a €2.4 million fine against the BML Group, which is a subsidiary of Betsson AB, for illegal marketing activities. This includes illegally targeting Finland with advertising from multiple channels, SBC News reported.
BML operates under the Malta Gaming Authority license held by Betsson. Finland’s police accuse it of posting materials on its website that are aimed at Finns, where there is a state-owned gaming and lottery monopoly, Veikkaus.
Antti Koivula, a partner at Legal Gaming Attorneys at Law, told SBC that this is the first time the National Police Board has issued a prohibition order and fine for an operator licensed in Malta.
Koivula added, “The conditional fine of €2.4m is also a record high, the previous record fine being on the level of €800,000. This decision has been long coming and it appears likely that another big operator will receive a similar, if not bigger, fine soon.”
The Police Board also alleges that BML has “significant financial interest” in other ongoing illegal marketing activities. However, the police not that BML has also begun reducing its marketing activity, which is considered a mitigating factor.
The Finnish Lotteries Act bans operators that don’t have a Finnish license. Only the state-owned Veikkaus may offer gambling products. That might change. Some lawmakers are pushing a proposal to open the market to competition.
