Finland wants to keep state-run gambling monopoly

A new poll establishes that a majority would rather keep the current lottery situation.

Finland.- According to a new poll conducted by Yle, 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.

The three companies that run the gambling industry in Finland are Veikkaus, a national betting agency dedicated to lottery tickets and sports wagers, Finntoto, a horse racing betting agency, and RAY, the Slot Machine Association in charge of casinos in the country. However, the three companies merged and became one. Taloustutkimus, the company in charge of the poll, said: “In contrast to many other countries, people in Finland don’t believe that the state is evil and trust that it can carry out these kinds of services. At the same time it shows a rather broad criticism against market liberalism and [reflects] a fear that all of the gambling profits would disappear to tax havens overseas if private gaming companies would take over.”