Finland rejects Betsson case

A Court from Finland rejected the company’s case against the local regulator after it forced an app clampdown.

Finland.- A Finnish court has dismissed BML Group’s legal claim against the local gambling regulator after the latter forced the company to end operations. The regulator started a clampdown on gambling apps that targeted Finland’s industry.

BML Group, which is the parent company of Betsson and Betsafe, among other entities, wanted to receive compensations over damages of approximately US$2.9 million from the National Police Board, the Finnish gambling regulator, GamblingCompliance reported.

The operator challenged the board’s decision as it questioned if it acted in compliance with the Lotteries Act when it forced Apple to stop providing its gambling apps to consumers in the country through its online store.

Back in January, a poll conducted by Yle revealed that more than two thirds of the people who answered the questions are in favor of keeping the current regimen that only allows people to gamble through a state-run monopoly. Yle revealed that 66 percent of Finland citizens are comfortable with not changing the current gambling scheme, and those in favor are mostly old women. Whilst the difference is significant, the 20 percent that stated that they wanted to change and break the state monopoly, mostly young adult males, said that commercial gambling firms could be beneficial. According to The Economist, Finland is one of the lead countries when it comes to gambling, as it occupies the fifth position of biggest gambling nation worldwide.