Where does this enthusiasm come from? The answer is not so simple.
There are many reasons why casino games are so popular in Finland. Of course, gaming habits and preferences are individual, but you can easily find national common features that explain the popularity of gambling. These include geographical, cultural and social factors.
Geography could be a factor in the popularity of casino games in Finland. The country is located in the far north, and weather conditions significantly affect people’s ability to be outside during the long, dark and cold winter months or even rainy summer days. Finns spend a lot of time indoors and look for suitable entertainment there. And what could be more attractive indoor entertainment than online games, including gambling?
Finland’s remoteness is also one likely reason why Finns play so much. Life in this remote country has been relatively easy and safe for decades without significant turbulence or major crises. As a counterbalance to a stable and safe life, people look for excitement elsewhere, and gambling is one option.
Social factors can also play a role. This northern nation is known for its quietness. You don’t goof around and you don’t necessarily always miss the company of another person. For a Finn, it is enough to have things to focus on. Gambling is an easy way to spend time without the company of others.
These may not be all-inclusive explanations, but they are potential factors when studying the popularity of gambling in Finland in recent decades.
Gambling has a long, centuries-old tradition in Finland. Already the first people who settled in Finland played rudimentary betting or threw stone or bone dice in their huts and later in their smokehouses.
Casino gaming, as it is known today, originated in Finland several decades ago. The country’s first land-based casinos were established in the 1990s, and since then the gambling industry has grown significantly. With the rise of the Internet, online casinos have also become increasingly popular and offer players the convenience of playing from home – which suits many introverted Finns quite well.
For the first time, casino games can be played in nightclubs about 50 years ago, when casino gaming became common among Finns. At first, only roulette games were offered in the nicer domes. A little later, blackjack games also came into the picture and players started to use different strategies in their playing.
Since the early days of Finnish casino gaming, Finland has had a gambling monopoly. This means that the country’s monopoly company has collected all the winnings from all the nightclub casino games. Restaurant owners accepted this system because the casino games brought new customers to the clubs, even as the profits flowed elsewhere. Casino games also made it possible for restaurants to have longer opening hours. This period was a true golden age of roulette and blackjack for many in the entertainment industry.
Traditional casino games had their own glory and nostalgia, but with slot machines, the nature of gaming changed. In the 1960s, the first simple slot machines began to appear in Finnish restaurants. Although the games were very simple, they offered completely new and exciting entertainment from the players’ point of view.
In the 1990s, slot machines began to appear in bars and pubs. Casino games also kind of lost their glory when games were available everywhere and gambling became a part of everyday life. Today, there are still more than 30,000 slot machines. You can find slot machines in almost every store, kiosk and gas station, which makes playing very easy as you can only bet on a quick shopping trip.
Although games and forms of gambling may have changed over time, the idea of betting and playing for entertainment and recreation has remained stable in Finnish culture. The most significant difference from before is that today most of the gaming takes place online.
During this millennium, gambling has moved heavily online. More and more Finns prefer to play casino games online rather than in land-based casinos. There are actually many reasons for this, and no single reason alone explains the entire phenomenon.
One of the most important reasons why Finns play so much at online casinos is the development of technology and fast internet connections in Finland. Most people have unlimited mobile data, which allows you to go online anywhere. The games can be started right away, for example, from the couch of your own home or on the bus to work, and the player does not have to think about how far he has to walk to the casino and whether his hair is inside. Order. Gambling can start with a few clicks on a computer or mobile device.
Finns have many options for online casinos. Finns can play at a state-owned domestic online casino, but there are also hundreds of safe and high-quality foreign sites available. Foreign sites compete with domestic publicly owned sites by offering multiple payment options, higher bonuses while offering Finnish-language games and customer service. Finns are one of the most gambling countries in the world, and therefore most casinos have targeted their offers to Finnish players.
Foreign casinos also try to attract Finnish players by proving their reliability by acquiring gaming licenses. The most valuable licenses are from Malta (Malta Gaming Authority) and Estonia (Estonian Tax and Customs Board), but casinos operating with Curacao licenses have also grown in popularity among players.
Casinos that have grown even more popular in the last few years are casinos without registration. Almost all casinos that do not require registration are aimed at Finns, because the entire registration-free gaming is mainly an activity aimed at Nordic players.
At these casinos, players can create a gaming account in seconds without having to provide any personal information, making it easy and hassle-free to start playing.
This is achieved by using online banking services such as Trustly, which acts as an intermediary between the player and the casino. Players simply log into their online banking account, confirm the transaction, and their gaming account is created and funded in real time. This process eliminates the need for lengthy registration forms and verification processes, making it a quick and convenient way to play casino games online.
Withdrawals at casinos without registration work in the same way as deposits, using the same online banking service that was used to fund the account. To make a withdrawal, players visit the casino cashier, enter the amount to be withdrawn and confirm the transaction through their online bank account. Non-registered casinos usually process withdrawals in real-time through an automated computer system, meaning funds are transferred almost immediately after a withdrawal request is submitted. Winnings are usually transferred to a bank account within a few minutes. Here is one absolute trump card compared to traditional online casinos, where you usually have to wait several days for winnings.
Unregistered casinos have grown in popularity especially among Finnish players. Most Finns choose them for speed and safety reasons. These sites allow players to participate in online gambling without providing personal information or going through verification processes. They can also be more secure because they use online banking credentials to authenticate transactions and reduce the risk of fraud.
Depending on different perspectives, casinos without registration can be seen as both a threat and an opportunity. On the good side, they enable fast and easy gaming without additional verification processes, while on the other hand, it can also be too fast and easy, which makes it easy for the player to exceed his own budget. To mitigate this issue, EEA licensed sites and EEA licensors such as Malta and Estonia are required to provide a number of responsible gaming tools such as deposit and loss limits to help players stay within their budget.
These casinos offer a variety of games online, including slots, table games, live dealer games and sports betting options, as well as a wide range of bonuses such as no-roll free spins and non-sticky bonuses that make it much easier to cash out winnings.
The main disadvantage of casinos without registration is that there is only one payment option available: online bank transfer. Other payment methods, such as e-wallet or card payment, are not accepted.
By Finns’ gambling 2019 population survey, about 78 percent of the 15-74-year-old population of mainland Finland had played some form of gambling in the past year. 29 percent of respondents had gambled once a week or more. The most popular games are lottery games and slot machines.
Gambling online has increased. In 2019, 36 percent of respondents had played online in the last 12 months. According to research, more than half of Finnish casino players play games on a mobile device.
Men gamble more often than women. 75 percent of women and 82 percent of men had gambled in the previous year. Gambling is most common in the 25–44 age group.
Gambling by minors has decreased with the raising of the age limit for gambling in Finland, which took place in 2010 and 2011, but the proportion of underage players did not change from 2015 to 2019. While 16 percent of minors had played the lottery in 2015, the corresponding ratio in 2019 was 31 percent. This is primarily explained by playing scratch cards.
Although many are attracted to gambling for the thrill, social interaction, and potential financial gain, gambling can be addictive and negatively impact a person’s life, leading to financial ruin and relationship problems. While it is possible to gain financial benefits, there is a greater risk of losing money, which can lead to debt and other financial problems. There are also potential adverse effects on mental health, such as stress, anxiety and depression, especially if a person experiences loss or becomes addicted.
HT
Source: The Nordic Page
