Gambling services

Draft Government proposal to Parliament on amendments to the Lotteries Act and certain related Acts

The proposal proposes amendments to the Lotteries Act. The aim of the proposal is to prevent and reduce the economic, social and health-related harm resulting from gambling by adding new provisions to the Lotteries Act in support of this objective. In addition, the proposal aims is to strengthen the ability of the exclusive rights system to channel gambling activities to gambling services subject to the Lotteries Act. This ensures gambling related harm can be more efficiently reduced and prevented. The proposal implements a reform of the Lotteries

Act in accordance with the Government Programme to ensure the achievement of the objectives set out in Finland’s gambling policy.
Provisions would be added to the Lotteries Act on the compulsory identification required for using Veikkaus Oy’s gambling services and on the use of Veikkaus Oy’s gambling and player data collected in connection to the implementation of Veikkaus Oy’s games. Provisions would also be added on the extension of the decision to prohibit the marketing of gambling services in violation of the Lotteries Act to natural persons and on the imposition of an administrative fine for engaging in marketing in violation of the Lotteries Act. The amended Lotteries Act would also include provisions for placing restrictions on the accessibility of gambling services
outside the scope of the Lotteries Act, which would be targeted at gambling companies engaging in marketing in violation of the Lotteries Act. In addition, the regulations related to Veikkaus Oy’s marketing and to the monitoring of the implementation of its gambling services would be further specified, and provisions on the placement and self-monitoring of slot machines would be added to the Act. The amended Act would also include provisions providing for Veikkaus Oy the opportunity to set up a business-to-business subsidiary for purposes other than gambling activities as well as provisions on the requirements and restrictions on the activities of the subsidiary.
As regards to regulations on other forms of lotteries, the provisions of the Lotteries Act on the implementation and supervision of bingo games would be amended by extending the deadlines for monitoring the maximum value of bingo game prizes and rendering the accounts.
The proposal also includes the necessary amendments to the Act on the Processing of Personal Data by the Police, the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, Market Court Proceedings Act and the Act on the Enforcement of a Fine.
Most of the amendments are intended to enter into force in 2022. The provisions on compulsory identification would enter into force in stages with the aim that from the beginning of 2024, all gambling services would require identification. The provisions on a payment-blocking system are intended to enter into force after the transitional period required for the technical implementation of the system ends.