One area in which the two countries have diverged is online gambling. Until recently, Finland and Sweden were in the same boat, with both banning private gambling operators from offering their services to locals. But all that changed on January 1, 2019, when Sweden ended its long-running state gambling monopoly and opened up the market to private, regulated operators.
Until this year, Sweden had the same problem as Finland – unlicensed regulators were capturing a huge share of the market. In Sweden’s case, it was estimated that private companies were raking in 29% of the country’s estimated $2.5 billion gambling industry.
Swedish policymakers realised that they could bring more money into the country’s coffers simply by softening their grip on online gambling and letting go of the monopoly. Under the new laws, Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, has the power to approve private gambling operators. Thus far, it has approved around 100 companies. More importantly, the authorities have also been given more power to crack down on unlicensed operators and force them to comply with responsible gambling initiatives https://Casino770.fi/.
Top policymakers in Helsinki are no doubt watching Sweden with interest to see how the online gambling reforms are received. But would finland gain or loose from adoption of the “Swedish model” of gambling? The downside would be that the income of the state monopoly Veikkaus would decrease and consequently the money that veikkaus has been distributing to culture, sports and charity will diminish as well. The state monopoly after all has been a non profit, distributing all its income for good causes. Veikkaus has also been expected to act responsibly, although recently it has come under criticism by the new government for openly advertising gambling and having placed too many slot machines in every shop and kiosk.
Finland’s gambling 