Finnish Online Casinos

The Nordic country of Finland embraced online gambling as far back as 1996. However, because all gambling in Finland falls under a government-sanctioned monopoly, Finland online casinos are not in abundance. In fact, the nation’s only two online casinos are operated by PAF and RAY respectively, two of Finland’s three gambling monopolies.

Gambling In Finland

Although gambling is extremely popular in Finland, it is entirely controlled by the government in the form of monopoly. In fact, just three gambling bodies control all gambling in Finland. The first is Fintoto Oy, which oversees all sports betting and horse racing; the second is PAF, which oversees all gambling on the Åland Islands and the third is RAY, which oversees the national lottery and all table games and slots.

While Finland has been widely criticised by the EC for not ending its gambling monopoly, all revenues generated by gambling are fed back into the system in the form of funding for Finland’s health and social welfare programs. Interestingly, a recent gambling study revealed that more than 40 percent of all citizens of Finland gamble on a weekly basis.

Online Gambling In Finland

Like regular gambling, online gambling falls under Finland’s gambling monopoly in the form of two online gambling sites operated by PAF (Ålands Penningautomatförening) and RAY (Raha-automaattiyhdistys) respectively. The PAF sites offers online slots, bingo, lotteries, casino, dice & backgammon, skill, poker and betting facilities, while the RAY site offers casino and poker games.

While the majority of Finnish online gamblers gamble at the PAF site, many players from the north of Finland are drawn to the RAY site. But there is nothing stopping Finland online gambling fans from playing at offshore online gambling sites, and in this vein, most leading online casinos welcome players from Finland.

Many even offer ‘Finland-friendly’ deposit methods such as Ukash and Ecocard.