Finland’s Paf is claiming to be the first online gambling operator to introduce a fixed annual loss-limit as part of its responsible gambling protocols.

Paf, which operates in Finland’s autonomous Swedish-speaking Åland islands region, says it is prepping a program that will impose a hard cap on customer losses at €30k per year. The program will take effect on September 1 and will apply to all customers on all markets.

Paf CEO Christer Fahlstedt said the new program will likely trim the company’s annual income by around 5%, but claimed the good sides of the loss-limits “simply outweigh the bad.” Fahlstedt added that the new restrictions would force the company to “recruit customers who play at a sustainable level.”

Paf reported turnover of €116.5m in 2017, €3m higher than 2016’s total, while profit hit €27.6m, in part due to the sale of its Italian-based Winga operation to LeoVegas. Most of this profit (€18m) will be redirected to Åland’s regional government to fund social programs.