Poker advertising stumbles over the law

By Juhani Saarinen
     
      Online lottery, poker games, sports betting...
      Advertisements of foreign gaming operators, tempting people to join online gambling, are easy to spot on cable channels, newspapers, and websites.
      What is common to all the advertisements is the fact that they all attempt to challenge Finland’s national gaming monopoly - and that they all may be unlawful.
     
On Tuesday of last week, the South Karelia District Court in Lappeenranta found that the managing director of the company that publishes the Metropoli newspaper had violated Finnish legislation on lotteries when he allowed the advertisements to be printed in the paper.
      Under the Lottery Act, only state-licensed games are allowed, while both organising unauthorised gambling and advertising such are illegal.
     
The case sets a precedent and will compel the gaming operators and publishers to reconsider their policies once again.
      In recent years, foreign gaming operators have started to advertise more and more audaciously.
      A long-standing dispute exists over whether the decision made by Finland to refuse to dismantle its statutory gaming monopoly - involving Lotto, betting, and other forms of gambling - is actually in breach of the law.
     
In mainland Finland, the only operating licences have been granted to the Slot Machine Association (RAY), Veikkaus (mainly the Finnish lottery and fixed odds betting such as 12X football pools, but also some instant lottery cards and a certain amount of variable odds betting on results), and Fintoto (totalisator betting on harness racing).
     
Between them they have an aggregate turnover of something like EUR 2.5 billion.
      The proceeds of these state-owned companies' operations after expenses are to be ploughed back into Finnish society, in the form of grants to Finnish sports, science, culture, national health and welfare.
      Other gaming operators are allowed neither to offer nor to advertise gaming services, but due to the Internet, it is nearly impossible to block the offering of cross-border gambling.
     
When it comes to players themselves, the monopoly has already been broken: it is permitted to place bets and play poker on any of the hundreds of gambling websites worldwide, as long as one remembers to pay the taxes.
      For gaming companies this is not enough, as they say that the national monopolies amount to an illegal restriction on competition.
      Following many years of conflict, the dispute is now likely to end up in the favour of those who defend the monopolies.
      Last autumn, an online bookmaker lost a challenge to Portugal’s sports betting monopoly after the European Court of Justice said that gambling restrictions are legal as long as they target fraud and crime.
     
In practice, the decision means that states are allowed to restrict gambling operations to the state-owned gambling companies as long as the aim is to prevent crime, gambling addiction, money laundering, and other harmful phenomena.
      It is likely that gaming companies will now contest the argument that monopoly operators are a safeguard against gambling problems.
      Both gaming companies and online players like to point out that even though the online games (and online poker in particular) are often criticised, the most detrimental influences have been caused by traditional slot machines, which in the Finnish experience are of course in the hands of RAY.
     
Giving up advertising would be a bitter pill for foreign companies.
      They are certain to turn all stones in the dispute, as the rewards are really lucrative.
      If the monopoly were smashed, the gaming companies would take a cut of the EUR 2.5 annual billion sales of RAY, Veikkaus, and Fintoto.
     
In the meantime, the Finnish government validated last week an amendment to the RAY gaming licence, enabling the Slot Machine Association to distribute slot machine and casino games on the Internet.
      RAY’s goal is to launch their Internet gaming selection in August 2010.
     
Veikkaus were also granted a licence to operate online bingo and numbers games such as Keno on the Net. The Finnish companies are eager to claw back some of the estimated 100 million euros and more that Finns put into games offered by foreign sites. Roughly half of this goes to online poker and the same amount to other casino- and fruit machine automat games.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.2.2010
     
     
Some of the links below examine the long-running dispute between offshore gaming companies and the Finnish monopolies, dating back to the beginning of the new century.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  European Union takes issue with sports betting monopoly in Finland (22.3.2007)
  Publication fined for poker advertising (3.2.2010)
  EU court proposal would allow Finland to restrict online gambling (4.11.2008)
  Finland´s Slot Machine Association prepared to launch online poker in 2010 (29.4.2009)

See also:
  Wanna bet? Finland´s gaming monopolies are under attack (16.12.2003)

Links:
  RAY press release 5.2.2010: Gaming licence for RAY Internet games
  Veikkaus