Finland Monopolies Going Online

Finland’s casino and slot operator RAY and lottery operator Oy Veikkaus have been given the go-ahead to operate online games directed to the Finnish public.

The two companies hold monopoly licenses to provide gaming in their respective fields.

In a press release announcing the amended license condition, RAY estimated that Finns spend over €100 million with foreign gaming operators active in RAY’s business sector. The spend was said to be about equal between online poker and online casino and slot games.

Last June, Janne Perakyla, director of gaming operations at RAY, predicted that an online gaming product operated by the company would be able to win between 25 percent and 50 percent of the market.

The company stated in the press release, “We are now proceeding by linking RAY’s strong and traditionally land-based gaming with the new internet gaming into an entity. This way we can offer Finnish consumers a unique casino gaming world, even by international standards.”

The product from RAY will be available to the domestic market only. Playing on credit is prohibited, and the Finnish Population Register Center will be used to check the identity of each client. Minimum age to play online is set at 18.

RAY plans to be ready to launch the product in August.