Finnish minister talks about Slot Machine Association’s future plans

Finland’s Slot Machine Association or RAY (Raha-automaattiyhdistys) is contemplating going into on-line poker very soon, that is according to Minister for Sports and Culture Stefan Wallin.

Quoted by the daily Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat last weekend, Wallin was confident that the on-line poker site could be launched before year end. He further revealed that all the technical systems to launch the service have already been tested. But before it can enter into the on-line poker environment, additional legislation is needed to allow it Internet gambling.

On other news, Alands Penningautomatforening (PAF), a gaming monopoly in the autonomous Aland Islands, has been hailed to court by the Finnish national government for marketing its online casino gambling offering to punters or small-time betters on the mainland which goes against its original authority. Finland has one of the strictest set of laws pertaining to gambling on the European continent and wants to protect its citizens from the ill effects of uncontrolled gambling.

There was even a proposal once to allow Finnish on-line players to recoup their losses either from the site providing the on-line poker services, the credit card which supplied the deposit or the winning player. This has put foreign firms on notice not to allow Finnish players on their site as a player protected by such a law becomes a great unjustified risk to the game organizers.