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The National Police Board is closely monitoring gambling marketing in Finland as the World Rally Championship (WRC), and its side events, have begun.
The National Police Board expects that, due to exclusive rights, certain gambling service providers from outside of the Finnish system may try to use the event as a marketing tool. The National Police Board informed the event organizers about the campaign of supervision and asked them to notify the teams, drivers and event side organisers accordingly. The police will monitor any possible marketing of gaming services during the event.
Veikkaus Oy is the only company that has exclusive rights to market and provide gambling services on the Finnish mainland. This system’s main goal is to reduce and prevent the negative economic, social and medical effects of gambling.
Johanna Syvatera, Senior Advisor of the National Police Board, said that all promotional material that violates Finnish Lotteries Act including logos of gambling services providers outside of the Finnish system exclusive rights must be removed from view or hidden so that spectators can’t see them.
“Attempts to promote the brands of gambling service providers from around the world and their games could appear at the event in the form printed logos on marketing material. “Marketing may also appear on the rally route and on competitor’s clothing, fan merchandise, video screens, light panels, background screens of interviews, brochures, stickers, and other giveaways,” stated Senior Advisor Johanna Syvatera.
According to the materials for the Finnish Lotteries Act’s preparation, marketing also includes other sales promotion activities. These include sponsorship, where the name of the gambling service provider or another identifier appears.
Sponsorship is a marketing strategy that gambling providers find particularly attractive because it targets a specific, targeted group with a high level of interest, such as sports betting. Syvatera said that positive images of the sponsored person, or sport can also be linked to the brand.
Finnish gambling laws aim to reduce and prevent the harm that gambling causes. In spite of this, many people in Finland and their close relatives suffer severe financial, health and social harms associated with gambling. A research report by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority published earlier this year stated that problem gambling is more prevalent outside of the exclusive rights system, which is estimated to have attracted around EUR 520-590 millions of gamblers money in 2021.
The National Police Board may impose a fine administratively for any violation of the ban on marketing gambling services. The administrative fine amount is calculated based on net sales or taxable revenue. The administrative fine for a company is EUR 10,000 minimum and EUR 5,000,000 maximum. The administrative fine for a person is EUR 500 minimum and EUR 40 000 maximum.
“The primary goal of enhanced surveillance is to effectively prevent illegal marketing in advance. We hope that notifying event participants of the unlawful marketing in advance is enough to prevent it from happening at the event. We are ready to take action if this does not happen. Senior Advisor Johanna Syvatera stated.
