Finnish Consumer Authority calls for single gambling regulator
New report claims prevalence of gambling problems in Finland is down to poor gambling regulation
The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) has called for a “centred and more effective” gambling regulation in Finland starting with a single regulator.
In a new report on the Finnish market, the FCCA compared current methods of regulation in Finland with markets like Sweden, the UK, Denmark, Norway and Australia.
It also looked at whether the Finnish monopoly systems meets EU requirements for monopoly business models.
The FCCA’s report highlighted the wide diaspora of gambling regulations in Finland as contributing to an “overlapping” of tasks in regulation calling such a mutual responsibility “ambiguous”.
It called for a centralising of these regulations to meet the objectives set out in EU law. The FCCA first agreed to conduct a review into the current monopoly system in February.
FCCA head of research Anu Raijas attributed the prevalence of gambling problems in Finland to gambling regulation rather than how it is operated.
“Current gambling regulation must first be centred to one body and made more effective. Only after this should we consider whether there is need to change the system,”Raijas added.
In addition, the FCCA highlighted the accessibility of unlicensed gambling sites to Finnish punters, calling for authorities to ban access to these sites if the current monopoly system is maintained.
The report also called for operators and regulators to inform consumers in a “clear and concise way” about the risk of certain types of games and calls for more research into at-risk gambling.
The FCCA stated there is a conflict of interest by having officials from the Finnish government in charge of regulating gambling, calling for an independent regulator to be set up.
“Strengthening and centralising gambling regulations should be a priority in Finland as it can influence player gambling and gambling activities, especially in the area of preventing at-risk gambling.
It is only when the regulation is in order in Finland when we will see if there is a real need to change the system,” the FCCA added.
The final report will be published in 2020.