Norway and Finland are still the last countries in Europe to support a monopoly in the field of gambling and not license casinos to independent companies. But according to current trends, the position of the Finnish monopoly Veikkaus can be seriously shaken – making acute current changes to the law on the lottery is not yet possible.
The Finnish Constitutional Committee blocked the bill tabled in September that proposed:
- ban advertising slot machines from 2022;
- mandatory identification of identity for all forms of gambling entertainment;
- the ability to block all payments going to all operators except Veikkaus from 2023.
Nonetheless, after examining this document, the committee gave a negative answer, noting that the blocking of payments constitutes a restriction on fundamental rights and the argument about the harm to gambling cannot be used as a justification for such a law. The ban violates Article 15 on the protection of property and Article 18 on the guarantees of freedom for businesses in the Finnish constitution, writes Focus Gaming News.
The committee officials have now made a motion to the government to introduce less stringent methods to achieve the desired goals. This means that Veikkaus can remain in this important process without government support.
