As the World Rally Championship (WRC) event and its side events begin in Finland, the National Police Board has been strictly monitoring the gambling market. The Board believes that some gambling service providers outside Finland’s system may attempt to use the event for marketing purposes.
The National Police Board has already notified event organizers of the supervision effort and asked them to send out the appropriate information to the teams, drivers, and side event organizers. The police have said they will watch for any potential gambling advertising during the event.
Finland is one of the few European countries to open its doors to regulated live casino sites and sportsbooks. As it stands, gambling is a state-controlled affair, with Veikkaus Oy having the sole license to offer and promote gaming services. The main goal of this system is to avoid gambling-related abuse and criminal activities.
However, that will soon change after the government announced in June that it could end the monopoly by 2026. The new licensing model will include sports betting and casino games.
According to Johanna Syväterä, senior advisor National Police Board, all gambling promotional materials, including logos, that violate the Finnish Lotteries Act must not be visible to the public during the event.
She added:
“Attempts to market the brands of international gambling service providers and their games may appear during the event, in the form of logos printed on marketing materials. Moreover, marketing may appear along the rally route, on competitors’ clothing and fan merchandise, on video screens and light panels, in the background screens for interviews, and brochures, stickers and other giveaways.”
Syväterä stated that sponsorships are particularly appealing to most gambling service providers because most adverts target a defined target audience whose level of interest in gambling may be above average.
Anyone found guilty of breaching the Finish Lotteries Act is subject to an administrative fine from the Board. The administrative penalty for a company is €10,000 to €5,000,000, whereas an individual could pay €500 to €40,000.
“The primary purpose of enhanced supervision is to prevent unlawful marketing effectively in advance. We hope that informing the event participants in advance will suffice as a preventive measure so that no unlawful marketing occurs at the event. If, for some reason, this is not the case, we are prepared to act quickly on this,” commented Syväterä.
