SkillOnNet and Wildz Group both said the proposed measures could push players away from regulated gambling.
Several operators have hit out at proposed player protection measures in Finland, with both SkillOnNet and Wildz Group raising concerns over how the mooted rules could push players to the black market, away from the newly formed legal framework.
The new Gambling Risk and Harm Assessment Group (GRHAG), operating under Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, on 30 January launched a consultation on the proposals. Stakeholders were given until 24 February to submit their opinion on the potential measures.
Black market concerns over protection measures
Among the GRHAG’s proposals is a single, cross-operator loss limit register. This would mean that players could only lose a certain amount across all licensees, rather than with individual operators.
Other proposed requirements include having to provide player control tools such as limits for deposits, losses and playing time. Operator-imposed tools would also cover cooling-off periods and play restrictions, as well as blocking certain measures in specific cases.
However, the proposals have caused some upset among operators, which have expressed their perspectives as part of the ongoing consultation which will help shape the market’s framework.
In its response, SkillOnNet, which counts PlayOJO among its core brands, said a low limit in the cross-operator model could push players to illegal websites.
“A forcibly closed gaming account is always a negative customer experience,” SkillOnNet said. “Every time a customer is directed to look for a new gaming location, the risk of finding a site operating outside the system increases.”
It said deposit and gaming limits could not be separated from the larger context and tightened so radically when the Gambling Act is already complete in other respects. It also advised that strict deposit limits together with the new Gambling Act would increasingly drive players outside the system.
Wildz flags risks to channelisation rate
Wildz Group raised similar concerns. The operator, which runs the Wildz Casino brand, said channelisation should be considered before deploying strict limits. It referenced studies in Germany that showed approximately 20% to 30% of gambling was channelled to regulated operators in markets where limits were too strict.
“If the restrictions presented in the recommendations were applied in Finland without an assessment of the channelling effects, it is justified to assume a similar outcome,” Wildz said.
Legal gambling should be ‘more attractive’
SkillOnNet went further in its criticism of the mooted measures. It said that the government should not run the risk of making protection rules too strong as this could put players off using licensed operators and push them to unregulated sites that offer no protection.
It said gambling on a licensed gaming site should be more attractive, more sensible and smoother for Finnish consumers than gambling on an unlicensed site.
The operator went on to say the focus should shift from limiting licensed operators to those outside the system and tackling illegal activity.
“In licensed gaming, resources should be directed to ensuring that licensees adhere to their own duty of care and report on it actively, that the restrictions set by the players themselves are adhered to and that the national gambling ban register functions flawlessly,” it said.
SkillOnNet added how the decision to open the market was partly due to current monopoly Veikkaus having only 50% of market share in Finland, with all other activity being with offshore sites.
What else has been proposed?
Another mooted measure was for a tiered intervention model. Operators would be required to continuously monitor customer behaviour, define risk indicators and responses, as well as keep records of player contacts and outcomes.
The Gambling Risk and Harm Assessment Group also recommended flagging young adults aged 18-24 as a “high-risk” group. As such, lower threshold and stricter protections should be applied.
In addition, the group issued a warning against the use of AI across player protection. It said as AI and machine-learning harm prediction models remained “still immature”, they should not be the primary influence in protecting players from harm.
At the time of writing, SkillOnNet and Wildz Group were the only two operators to have submitted an opinion on the proposals.
Any new player protection rules would be included as part of the wider gambling legislation, which was approved in December. They would apply to all operators that secure a licence in Finland’s new-look market, which will open to more licensed iGaming operators for the first time.
Operators can begin applying for licences from March this year. However, the government is yet to finalise some of the safer gambling measures that will apply to licensees. The market is due to launch in July 2027.