Official language: Finnish, Swedish
Population: 5,327,490
Currency: Euro (EUR)

Current Exchange Rate
1 GBP = 1.0681 EUR
1 USD = 0.6754 EUR

Casinos in Finland
All casino gambling on the Finnish mainland is controlled by RAY, and casino gambling on the Åland Islands is controlled by PAF. Both hold monopolies over casinos in their jurisdictions. There is only one true casino in Finland – called the Grand Casino Helsikni – and it is operated by RAY. Despite the lack of large casinos, gambling is available in the form of slots and other machines in thousands of locations across the country.

Grand Casino Helsinki offers over 300 machines and dozens of tables spread over three floors. It opened in 1991, and is extremely modern – a 1000 square foot (90 square meter) digital wall made of giant screens is a big attraction – it is accented by a glass staircase running along next to it. Like all Finnish gambling, profits from the casino go to support health care and welfare work.

Online Casinos in Finland
Online gambling in Finland is also controlled by a government monopoly. PAF runs a website out of the Åland Islands that includes a full casino, along with a poker hall, bingo room, and an online sportsbook. The site offers its services to all Finns, which caused some problems a few years ago when RAY ordered the police to raid their offices. RAY felt that PAF's internet casino was infringing on their monopoly. The problem was soon overruled by the Finnish government, and today, PAF is the only legal provider of online gambling in Finland, though RAY is trying to get involved as well, and is just waiting for permission from the government.

The Finnish government does not like Finns to gamble at overseas casinos. They have even proposed a law that would let Finns get back their losses at foreign casinos – this would force foreign casinos to stop accepting players in Finland. The rule has not been passed, however. Furthermore, the EU is pressuring Finland to open up its gambling monopoly, so it won't be long before more online casinos are available to Finnish players.