Most of the parties in the Finnish Parliament support the government’s plan to end the gaming monopoly of Veikkaus and possibly to privatize it. The plan to investigate this possibility was recently floated by Minister of Europe and Ownership Management, Tytti Tuppurainen.
The Finnish news service Yle.fl interviewed members of three parties, the Centre Party, National Coalition Party (NCP), and the Labor Institute for Economic Research (Labore). The three spoke approvingly of the plan.
Centre Party Chairman Eeva Kalli told Yle.fl “It’s unsustainable for gaming profits to increasingly end up outside of Finland while they cause harm here.”
The government argues that many Finns are illegally betting on offshore sites, such that the monopoly has lost both money and market share. This means that the government also loses tax revenues. The government is also concerned that consumers are not playing in an environment that protects them or maintains standards.
Antti Koivula, a partner and spokesman for Legal Gaming Attorneys at Law, notes that the government is prompted mainly by “money and market share.”
Mika Maliranta, director of labore, told Yle.fl “Technological progress is a typical factor reducing the impact of monopolies on markets. Major practical problems exist in the regulation of online gambling.”
Currently Veikkaus accounts for €500 million, about 50 percent of the customer base. Even Veikkaus’s CEO Olli Sarekoski has proposed licensing other operators.
Most European nations have given up gambling monopolies, with Finland being one of the last holdouts.
