State Owned Online Poker a Possibility for Finland

In recent news, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland was planning on introducing a new amendment that would essentially leave Finland online gamblers without a place to play. The new amendment would give players the ability to claim back their losses during gambling, which in turn would cause online operators to not allow players from Finland to participate on their site because the players would be a major liability.

Now it seems the Minister of Culture and Sports, Stefan Wallin, has introduced the option of a state run online poker site. Wallin has stated that the current system is unsatisfactory and the increasing cases of problem gambling and that the winnings of existing gaming websites are flowing to companies operating from foreign tax havens are the main reasons the system is not working.
Wallin has said that he would like to see one of the two Finnish gambling companies to take over the reins and organize the state run operation. The two gambling companies are Veikkaus and the Finnish Slot Machine Association.

According to other reports officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health do not agree with Wallin' s suggestion. A ministry official in top ranking, Kari Paasio, commented on the subject. He said that Wallin's suggestion should not be explored until a committee looked over the amendments to the law on lotteries and have submitted their proposals. The proposals may include raising the age limit for legal gambling and blocking Finnish access to foreign online poker sites.

"At the moment the idea of a national poker site is just one persons opinion," said Mr. Paaso, "but as Minister for Culture and Sports, his opinion is an important one."