The National Police Board (NPB) of Finland has just disclosed a lineup of banned entities, with Betsson at the top of the list. As of today, the 29th of February, Betsson, BML Group, and an array of thirteen brands under their umbrella have been officially blacklisted.
This marks a historic moment as Betsson becomes the first to face the consequences of blacklisting in this Nordic nation. This follows a legal skirmish with the NPB earlier in the month, which Betsson lost. Following this, financial institutions as well as payment and virtual currency services are now mandated to halt any and all transactions flowing from Finnish soil to BML.
The Ripple Effect on Betsson
Let's rewind to May of the previous year, when the legal gavel came down on BML Group. They had been found guilty of aggressively courting Finnish players with marketing endeavors, an action that flies in the face of the Finnish Lotteries Act.
In response, the courts ordered BML Group to pay a hefty fine of €2.4 million and instituted a ban on any further marketing of their gambling services within Finland.
The NPB's verdict was clear - BML Group had been illicitly engaging Finnish players from the mainland over a sustained period, a severe contravention of the Lotteries Act. It is Veikkaus, and only Veikkaus, that holds the exclusive rights to operate and market gambling services in Finland.
Finland's Crackdown on Unregulated Gambling
As the calendar flipped to 2023, Finland introduced stringent payment blocks specifically targeting unlicensed gambling activities. The objective? To strike hard at a thriving black market that's believed to represent nearly half of the nation's gambling activity.
A similar predicament had previously ensnared Betsson in Norway, yet another region where a gambling monopoly is the norm. And let's not forget the company's hiccup in the Netherlands during 2021, where it faced a blockage in its path to entering the regulated igaming market of the country.
That's not all - the same year, Betsson, alongside other prominent names, retreated from the Dutch market post an eleventh-hour policy twist in the Remote Gambling Act. This act declared that operators like Betsson, who may not directly target the Dutch populace but still cater to Dutch players, would not qualify for licenses. Although Betsson initially sought a license after a cooling-off interval, it later retracted this application.
Finland's Move Towards Ending its Gambling Monopoly
In the midst of the Betsson blacklist news, we also hear the Finnish government's plans to dissolve Veikkaus's monopoly stronghold. The goal? To transition to an open licensing system no later than 2026 - a move aimed at mitigating both the financial and social repercussions associated with gambling. More news.
With an eye on reform, the government aspires to boost the flow of bettors towards legal gambling avenues. In line with such strategic shifts, Veikkaus has secured a partnership with OpenBet. This collaboration is set to modernize Veikkaus's fixed-odds betting framework, ensuring it's in sync with OpenBet's leading-edge solutions. This enhancement will be palpable at retail outlets and on the official Veikkaus website before we bid farewell to 2024.
This development trails Veikkaus's announcement of a significant downsizing operation, which will see a split into three distinct business units. Consequently, this restructuring will lead to the unfortunate loss of jobs for approximately 185 to 215 employees, with an additional 110 to 150 staff members experiencing substantial alterations to their terms of employment.
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