Finnish Citizens Spend €50 million Annually on Foreign Poker Sites
April 22nd, 2008
Finnish citizens are said to be spending some €50 million annually on poker at foreign gaming sites, money that could be captured by the state if it were to provide online poker.
That is according to a report last week by the Finnish news agency STT, which quotes Ilkka Juva, Communications Manager for the Finnish state-owned gaming company Veikkaus as saying that a Finnish poker site could bring in several million euros for domestic use.
"We could gather the majority of the revenue flowing out. Certainly not all of it, but two thirds of 50 million euros could be attainable," Mr Juva told STT.
Talk of a Finnish state-controlled poker site has intensified since the beginning of this year, following calls by Finland’s Minister of Culture and Sport, Stefan Wallin, to change the current system in order to control problem gambling and to stem the flow of gaming revenue from Finland to companies ‘operating from foreign tax havens’.
Disagreement however exists within the Finnish government, with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health strongly opposed to any expansion of gambling opportunities by the state.
An Internal Affairs Committee has been given until the end of this year to consider proposals into ways to more tightly regulate gambling within the framework of Finnish and European Law, and its recommendations are expected to be drafted as a Bill and presented to parliament early next year.
Any amendment to Finland’s Lottery Law could be expected within the first half of 2009.
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