In the gambling world, Finland is a peculiar and somewhat contradictory country. On the other hand, the government wants to restrict gambling as much as possible and at the same time, there are things that seem to be much looser than in many other parts of Europe and even the entire world.

If you have ever visited this beautiful country in the North, you might have spotted something very strange in the grocery stores, gas stations, and kiosks. As reported on our site earlier, there are slot machines everywhere! This is something that the majority of other Nordic countries, for instance, are not providing their citizens with.

Finland, even though its government and the monopolized gambling company Veikkaus are being criticized for having slot machines everywhere, is not taking them out. What the government is doing is stopping anonymous gambling that has been so far possible in these slot machines located in stores and gas stations.

What Will Actually Change?

According to the renowned Finnish Casino Portal, Laatukasinot, there are many changes coming. By the year 2023 the government of Finland, alongside Veikkaus, is planning to move all gambling-related actions for something that can be done only via identification. This has been the case already in the majority of European online casinos, and now also Veikkaus is seeing the relevance of doing so.

Starting from January 2021, Finnish players at stores, kiosks and gas stations have not had the opportunity to play without identification first. The identification is now mandatory. For that one needs a Veikkaus customership, a credit card related to the player account or a Veikkaus app.

 

Veikkaus itself estimates that having player identification at slot machines and all gambling-related services will reduce the amount of playing. On the other hand, nothing says this will have any effect on the players with serious gambling problems.

Also, when looking at the latest trends in the gambling industry, Finland’s decision to tie identification to player accounts and customership seems something that might be too little too late. Veikkaus now requires everyone to register and play with their ID cards, on another note online no account casinos are on the rise!

 

Other Plans the Finnish Government is Moving Forward With

Mandatory identification is not the only thing Finns are going to have to get used to. Indeed, there are other regulations for the Finnish gambling markets as well. The current government, led by prime minister Sanna Marin (SDP) is investigating whether it could in the future force payment blocks. This means that if the bill passes, the Finnish players would no longer be able to play online casinos outside of Finland.

There are already examples in Europe of these types of payment blocks. So far the results have in many cases not been what the governments have wished for. Gamblers are finding new ways to go around the blocks, and this might very well happen in Finland, also. iGaming professionals have already suggested that in the future Finnish players will most likely just start using e-wallets and foreign bank accounts.