Online gambling participation in Finland rose nearly 13 percentage points over the past four years without any corresponding rise in overall problem gambling rates.

A new study released last month by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) queried nearly 4k residents on their gambling activity during 2019, a follow-up to similar studies conducted every four years since 2007. A second report later this year will address public attitudes and opinions toward gambling.

The gambling prevalence rates was 78.4% in 2019, down from 80% in 2015. The number of Finns who gambled daily or several times per week fell 1.9 points to 7%, while those who gambled once a week was down nearly three points to 22.2%.

Of Finns who gambled last year, those who did so with the state-run Veikkaus monopoly fell 1.5 points to 77.9%, while the number who patronized an internationally licensed online alternative rose 2.1 points to 5.4%. All told, of Finns who gambled last year, the number who did so online was 36.3%, up 12.7 points from 2015.