Finland keeping Veikkaus gambling monopoly, okaying new B2B unit

Finland’s state-run Veikkaus gambling monopoly isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future, according to a new government proposal for ‘reforming’ the nation’s gambling legislation. 

On Thursday, Finland’s Ministry of the Interior announced it was soliciting comments on “a proposal for reforming the Lotteries Act.” The key planks of this proposal are increased consumer protections, combatting prohibited gambling marketing and “securing Veikkaus Oy’s capacity to channel the demand for gambling.”

In case that last plank wasn’t sufficiently clear, the Ministry added that “the basic premise of the reform is that Finland’s gambling system will also in the future be based on the state monopoly in line with the government program.”

To preserve this monopoly, the Ministry wants to empower the National Police Board to compile a blacklist of internationally licensed gambling sites that market their wares to Finns, and local banks and other payment processors would be required to block the movement of money between these sites and Finnish gamblers.