One Slot Machine for Every 271 Finnish Citizen

Finnish gambling laws gave monopoly to two companies that are in a constant legal fight over jurisdictions.

PAF (or Alands Penningautomatforening) enjoys a gambling monopoly on the Aland Islands. The company also operates Finnish online casinos as well as gambling facilities on the cruising ferries.

RAY (Raha-automaattiyhdistys, or the Finnish Slot Machine Association) is granted the slots and casino monopoly on the Finnish mainland.

RAY statistics reveal that 18% of the Nordic nation’s adults played slots during the past week, and nearly 40% in the past year. For comparison: only 2% of the Swedish citizens played slots during the last week and 14% during the past year.

Finland boasts over 20,000 slot machines, while there are only 7,000 such machines in Sweden. There is one slot machine for every 271 Finnish citizen, with 4,757 Swedes for a slot machine.

According to RAY, 1.5% of Finns are considered problem gamblers, which is a comparable figure to Sweden. RAY’s Business Locations Director Jarl Kivela commented that “slot play in Finland is a part of dropping in somewhere to do some shopping.”

According to the Finnish gambling news, the record for a win on an online slot in Finland has been achieved by an anonymous gambler from the capital.

A lucky Helsinki punter scored the EUR 8.65 million jackpot on the Arabian Nights online slot with a EUR 5 wager, making a 1.73 million fold return on his initial investment.