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

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

Sports Betting in Finland
There are three government-run bodies in Finland that hold a monopoly over all gambling in the country. On the mainland, Fintoto Oy and its subsidiary Veikkaus control sports gambling, while on the Åland Islands, PAF controls all sports betting. All revenue from horse racing is given to Suomen Hippos, a Finnish horse breeding organization. Profits from other forms of sports gambling go to Finnish sports teams and sports facilities.

Horse racing was the most popular form of sports gambling in Finland for many years, mostly because it was the only legal way to bet on sports. In the mid 1990s Veikkaus was given permission to offer other sports bets and lotteries. Since then, Finns bet on football more than any other sport.

Online Sports Betting in Finland
Online sports betting in Finland has been supplied by PAF out of the Åland Islands since the mid 90s. They offer a great variety of bets on all major sporting events. Their services are available throughout Finland, and while RAY is upset about this, and even went so far as to send police to raid PAF offices a few years ago, the Finnish government lets PAF control the only online sportsbook in Finland.

Finns who are not content playing at the PAF site often use foreign internet betting sites. The Finnish government discourages this, but as is the case around the world, they cannot do much to control the situation since they have no jurisdiction where these sportsbooks are hosted. The EU has been pushing Finland to break up their gambling monopoly, so things may be changing soon, and more Finnish online sportsbooks may become available.