Call for higher age limits for gambling

Interior Ministry does not reject proposal from Ministry of Social Affairs

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The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is proposing that those under the age of 18 should not be allowed to engage in any gambling - including playing lottery games and slot machines.
      The proposal is included in a statement that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has sent to the Ministry of the Interior, which is preparing changes to the law on lotteries.
      The proposed legislation is aimed at preventing social damage caused by gambling.
      Ismo Tuominen, an official at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, says that this is the first time that the ministry has made an official proposal to raise the age limit, which now stands at 15.
      The ministry feels that gambling entails risks that would make a higher age limit appropriate, with no exceptions for any type of game.
      "For instance, the Lotto [the national lottery] is often played with small stakes, but it is still a gambling game in which the risks are high", he points out.
      A number of organisations in the public health field and drug and alcohol rehabilitation also endorse the call for raising the age limit to 18.
      The Ministry of Education, and the national lottery association Veikkaus are more cautious, suggesting that the Ministry of the Interior should ponder the age limit issue.
     
The Ministry of the Interior has initially planned to keep the basic age limit at 15 years, while raising that for casino gambling and on-line games to 18.
      The Interior Ministry's proposal is in line with established practice, not all of which is backed up by legislation.
     
Police director Kimmo Hakonen says that the Ministry of the Interior will soon set up a working group that is to examine the proposed legislative change.
      Hakonen says that a rise in the age limit is worthy of consideration.
      The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is also considering another significant reform: the ministry feels that the age of players should always be checked.
      Ismo Tuominen says that this would be most challenging with coin-operated slot machines, which number in the thousands all over Finland.
      He says that the Slot Machine Association could sell special electronic cards to those who are old enough: a reader on the slot machine itself would only allow those who insert such a card to play the game.
      For online games, checking a player's identity could be quite easy with an electronic identification code.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Age limits on gambling machines often ignored (10.1.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat