Finnish casino players are heading towards English language gambling sites

Online casinos have been a huge hit ever since the first ones came around in the mid-90s. The first casino companies were very quick to jump on right after commercial Internet first launched. The idea of offering gambling to a worldwide audience online was simply too lucrative to pass up on.

In certain countries, the online casino craze has risen to even higher heights than in others. Finnish people are known to be particularly active with their favorite slots, live casino games, and other sources of excitement.

Every country in the world has its own history with gambling. For many countries in the Middle East, gambling has more or less always been illegal. For Finland, however, gambling has been a popular pastime since the very first slot machines arrived in the country in the 1940s. Near that time, the Finnish government would also establish a full monopoly on all gambling

For decades, the Finnish government maintained a tight grip on all games of chance in the country. In addition to pure casino games, this includes lotteries, scratchcards, and sports betting. However, all of this would change in the 2000s with the online casino boom reaching the country.

In the beginning, the vast majority of online casinos were in English. Even so, this was not a major hurdle for Finns, who are known for their better-than-average English skills. What is more, Finns soon became some of the most active online casino customers in the world. The Finnish government had already previously made Finns hooked on gambling, which had consequently made them more open to shiny new foreign influences as well.

It would only take a few years until foreign online casinos started translating their services to different languages. It should be no surprise that the Finnish language was among the first ones to be added in order to catch even more Finns’ attention.

Obviously, the Finnish government looked on in shock as more and more Finns started flocking to foreign online casinos. While the Finnish government had to follow very strict guidelines to keep their games responsible, foreign online casinos were operating in a more open market. Because of this, best online casino Finland outside of the country could offer players various incentives and welcome bonuses. The Finnish monopoly, on the other hand, could do no such thing.

If it were possible, there is no question that the Finnish government would have banned foreign casinos a long time ago. However, due to EU laws and open market principles, Finnish lawmakers could only forbid outside companies from providing gambling services within the country’s physical borders, not digital ones.

Foreign online casinos have been available in Finland for close to 25 years. During this time, Finns have become educated on what the best deals and the best places to play are. As a result, more Finnish players have also turned their attention to the market at large.

Some Finnish players have even turned away from Finnish language casinos and started looking at English language casinos instead. By doing this, they can have a larger scope of where to find the best bonuses and services.

What is more, some previously Finnish casinos have recently gone back to defaulting to the English language instead. This is because the National Police Board of Finland has been cracking down on casinos that it feels are breaking Finnish online casino marketing laws. It is technically possible for the Finnish government to issue fines and other sanctions to casinos that are deemed to be marketing their services to Finns despite the monopoly.

In other words, some casinos are trying to play it safe by going back to English while still targeting Finnish customers.

Whatever happens, Finnish players are likely going to continue to try and find the best deals available. For most Finns, deficient language skills are unlikely to be a major problem.