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Land based and online casinos in Finland are legal, regulated and licensed by the state as well as
all other forms of gambling, both online and offline. Three government domestic gambling monopolies, Fintoto (Horse Racing), RAY (Slots) and Veikkaus
(lotteries and gambling), have control over all gambling in Finalnd. In 2016 they were merged into one entity and 2017 saw the Finnish parliament approve the
legislation that controls the merged organisation and strengthen the state's control.
Gambling has always been a monopoly run by the state in Finland
although the European Union is challenging this in the European Court of Justice just as it has done with Finland's neighbour Sweden. However the Finnish laws
do not criminalise players who play in foreign online casinos, nor does the government order ISPs to block foreign sites. So we recommend using Finnish focused
online casnios and slots. Foreign sites can not advertise in Finland but there are many with Finnish language pages.
Gambling is popular in Finland and
with it being all state run much of the profits go to charity and the rest is taken by the tax authorities of Finland.
Most betting in Finland is with a
parimutuel system run by the state, a kind of Tote. There are many horse racing tracks in Finland but it is nearly all harness racing, or trotting. A breed of
horse known as the Finnhorse, as it is a breed particularly developed in Finalnd, is used along other lighter horse breeds.
Of note are the Aland
Islands, an autonomous Swedish speaking province, which has its won rules on most things including gambling. Comprised of around 6,500 islands that have
roughly the area of Northern Ireland but a population of about 30,000.
Casinos
There are only two casinos in
Finland.
The main casino is Casino Helsinki, a largish casino by European standards but tiny compared to Vegas. minimum age is 18, its free to get in
with full ID shown. It is not open 24 hours though it covers the hours of 13:30 to 04:00 for the gaming tables. Its smart casual for dress code, no sportswear
or shorts. It has a thriving poker room. You can find it at Casino Helsinki Mikonkatu 19, FI-00100 Helsinki, Finland.
The second casino is very small
and is found in Mariehamn, the capital city of Aland Islands. Same entrance rules as Casino Helsinki. Find it at Arkipelag Hotel & Casino Strandgatan 35,
AX-22100 Mariehamn, Åland, Finland.
There are also some club type venues, that is night club/bar with some gaming tables. Club Rovaniemi and Teivo
Racetrack are examples.
Sports Betting
Sports betting is moderately popular but not to the scale it is in the
UK. Pesäpallo is a variation of baseball and is considered the national sport, it is a target for betting in Finland. Other targets are mostly winter
sports like ice-hockey and skiing. Most popular is harness racing.
Fintoto (Tote)
Fintoto is the state run
parimutuel betting platform.
Betting at the many horse racing tracks and at all Rkioski shops around the country.
Corner Shops
 Spread all over the country are small shops that
are basically corner shops selling anything and everything. In these you will find kiosks that take bets for Finlands version of the tote and also lottery
tickets Look out for a shop that has this advertising logo, they are in every town and city.
Slot
Machines
There are more than 50 gaming arcades and about 4,000 game retail outlets where you can play state owned slot machines run by RAY
(Rahaautomaattiyhdistys).
Poker
Only poker room is in the Casino Helsinki. Its popular but there is a thriving
online poker scene as well as the major online poker rooms accept Finnish customers.
Lottery
Viking Lotto is
a cooperation between the national lotteries in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Viking Lotto started in 1993 and was
the first of its kind in Europe.
The Euro lottery is offered to Finnish punters by Veikkaus, the state lottery operator.
Veikkaus also has other
games like pick 12 from 24 which gets 625,000 euros for correct.
There is also the Finnish National lottery where you pick 7 from 39 and is run in a
rollover style like most others. Odds for the jackpot are 1 in 15,380,937. |
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