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Stefan Willin, the Minister for Culture and Sport has thought up the idea to run a government controlled online poker site to draw people away from foreign gambling websites. That is right ladies and gentlemen, fight fire with fire.
According to a report by News Room Finland, the Minister for Culture and Sport stated that the nation’s slot machine association called Raha-Automaattiyhdistys, lottery and betting monopoly called Veikkaus Oy should take the responsibility for monitoring online poker rooms. The profit that the state would receive from this would be spent to fund public services and help fight gambling addictions. The Minister even used Sweden’s state lottery called Svenska Spel as an example of how Finland should run his idea. News Room Finland reported that the Minister believes Finland could have an initiative proving to be successful over the internet if the Finnish government would authorize online poker services.
“It is difficult to halt the rise in the popularity of online poker,” said Willin. “It would be better to offer players a legal and responsible alternative. Responsibility would mean setting an eighteen years old age limit and requiring players to identify themselves.”
A university working group commissioned by Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health proposed an online gambling ban that the Scandinavian nation was looking over just last week. These statements coming from Minister Willin is coming at either just the right time or just the wrong time. Minister Willin’s ideas do have some weight attached to them. Finland has been trying for some time to squelch an underage gambling problem, but the proposal that the Minister is backing would be a great help to the nation’s Lotteries Act. All gambling sites would be required to get themselves an identification program to keep anyone under the age of eighteen out.
Part of the Minister’s proposal would replace any kind of suggestive advertising with more innovative and safe advertising. And any rumor there was of players being able to reclaim their losses they have deposited in what would be an illegal gambling site has now been officially negated. Finland ranks fourth in the world per capita for gambling expenditure with little restrictions currently on engaging in online gambling.
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