Yet another European country is following the trend to put anti gambling laws in place, making it immensely difficult for their citizens to play poker online.
The German government has been working hard to enforce its new law whereby online gambling has become next to impossible for the average player within the country due to tough ISP legislation, advertising bans and the rest.
The latest to follow in Germany’s footsteps is the Scandinavian country of Finland. The Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs has been seeking ways to effectively bring an end to problematic gambling by protecting compulsive gamblers and underage players. As a result, the ministry commissioned a university study to come up with ideas that could assist them and the results were disclosed this week by a local newspaper, Helsingin Sonomat.
After collaborating with economics and law academics from the University of Joensuu, Professor Kalle Maata came up with the idea of passing a law that would allow gamblers to claim back any losses from the sites if they hit a losing a streak. As such, although there would be no outright ban on Finnish players to take their gambling entertainment online, the very fact that they could claim back their losses would definitely affect the online wagering industry in the country.
For one, no foreign gambling operators would dare accept Finnish players on their site anymore if they were faced with the risk of having to pay back losses. As has been the case for US and Turkish players due to local legislation governing gambling pastimes, Finnish players may very well find themselves barred from opening accounts at many sites. It is safe to assume that gambling sites do not want to find themselves slapped with demands to return funds after a player complains of being intoxicated while playing poker.
It is still early days for this potential new Finnish law, of course. It is difficult to understand how the law – if it ever manages to pass – will be enforced and under which conditions players can claim their money back. As such, the ministry is waiting to hear comments about the new idea from other government and academic experts, to see whether it would be at all feasible to make an amendment to the country’s existing gambling laws.
Comments are closed.