Those Finnish betting sites accepting bets on all sports ranging from pesäpallo to football and ice hockey are the best. Our online betting in Finland guide recommends where you should bet from, explaining the state’s monopoly on gambling and telling about that many Finnish players prefer foreign bookmakers.
We also tell them how to deposit at Finnish betting sites, which are the most popular sports for betting, as well as give a historical background of gambling in Finland.
Finland may not have a huge economic output, but based on a per person analysis, it has some of the highest living standards in the world despite having only 5.5 million inhabitants. What’s really interesting is that Finns are very much into gambling, from those who just take their time try to win friends money for fun while others are pros players at high stakes tables where they often turn over millions of dollars or euros.
Ownership by the Finnish government makes Veikkaus a gaming company with monopoly on gambling in Finland. It was created last year as a result of the merger of three sports betting and gambling agencies that existed before: Fintoto, Slot Machine Association in Finland (RAY) and original Veikkaus established in 1940.
Veikkaus is well-known for having over two million loyal customers and for contributing more than one billion euros to the local economy every year, yet many Finnish gamblers prefer European bookmakers.
There is no law to stop it, or the payment and access to these websites cannot be blocked.
Since these European sports wagering platforms operate in a number of countries and face stiff rivalry, they provide fantastic rewards to woo fresh gamers.
Extremely competitive odds are also offered by the best Finnish betting sites. On an event, Veikkaus, a government-run company can offer 1.60 odds, but you might get 1.70 on one of our recommended sites.
Additionally, a lot of overseas betting sites attend to Finnish gamblers in such a way that they interpret their web pages into Finnish and have Finnish-speaking customer care providers so that you will have it the best way possible.
Due to their membership in the European Union (EU) and adoption of the euro as their official currency, a wide range of payment alternatives are available for Finland’s sports betting. Some of the most popular methods of payment among Finnish bettors are:
Conventional sports dominate most nations but not until recently, and people have never heard of pesäpallo. As you read on, understand the entire details of this bat-and-ball game plus others that are liked in Finland’s finest betting sites.
According to many people, pesäpallo is the national game of Finland, and more betting sites are including odds for this niche sport. Finnish athlete Lauri Pihkala created pesäpallo in the 1920s after attending a baseball match in America. In some ways, it’s similar to baseball because it revolves around hitting a ball and going through four bases.
Pesäpallo and baseball have one crucial dissimilarity – the former’s ball is thrown vertically, while in baseball its pitcher stands right across from a batter. At home, the highest echelon is called as Superpesis and it has 14 teams competing in men’s division and 12 teams taking part in women’s division. The first Pesäpallo World Cup was held in 1992, since then Finland have never lost a single category of the tournament – mixed team, men`s team and women`s team.
As a hobby football is Finland’s most popular sport but it has lower viewership on TV than ice hockey does. So far the men’s national team have not won gold at the Winter Olympic Games but they have got two silver and four bronze medals. The men’s team is one of the ‘Big Six’, which describes six most successful national teams in ice hockey.
Liiga, also called Finnish Elite League, is the best professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league’s promotion and relegation system has undergone many changes over the years. Since 2016-17 season, a total of 15 teams play for the title. In recent times, Kärpät, Tappara and HPK have won Finnish championships and on top of that there are some best betting sites for Finland that allow you to bet on all matches played.
Veikkaus, the national betting company of Finland sponsors the Veikkausliiga, which is Finland’s top soccer league that bears its name. The Finnish soccer premier league called the Veikkausliiga has got 12 teams including HJK and KuPS, as well as relagation/promotion rules to Ykkönen. Thus, there are several good football gambling sites where you can place stakes on competitions like Veikkausliiga and Ykkönen, Finnish Cup and all other major football tournaments.
No other Finnish footballer ranks higher in public opinion than Jari Litmanen. The attacking midfielder played for local teams Reipas, HJK and MyPA before joining Ajax and winning the UEFA Champions League. He had a difficult time in Barcelona and Liverpool, but he came back to Ajax. He netted 32 times in 137 appearances for the national team from 1989 to 2010.
In Finland, people also bet on winter sports. There are over a hundred ski resorts in Finland, and the skiing season lasts over two hundred days every year. This is why such Finnish legends as Eero Mäntyranta and Juha Mieto have become famous for their winter sports achievements. In the Winter Games, Finnish athletes have won a total of 160 medals. Most of those medals came from cross country skiing, ski jumping, and speed skating categories.
On our recommended Finnish betting sites, you can place bets for your favorite winter sports athletes. The Winter Games, the Alpine World Ski Championships and the Winter X Games are among the major competitions where these sites offer odds that are highly competitive. Additionally, you can bet on Nordic combination events, biathlon, freestyle skiing, snowboarding figure skating as well as curling amongst other things apart from what we have talked about concerning winter sports.
Even though gambling was a centuries-old activity in Finland, it really advanced during the 1920s when slot machines were introduced into the country from Germany. This development which caused much enthusiasm for gaming enthusiasts, was spotted by the government and as a result only NGOs were allowed to own and operate slots because at this time, private entrepreneurs who had them exhibited dishonest dealings with their clients.
This move was meant for good, but just a few years later in 1938, there was chaos and Rahaautomaattiyhdisty (RAY) was formed. RAY acted as Finland’s gambling team since they controlled the game itself and built the devices. Money was set aside to cope with any social misgivings resulting from gambling on these machines – an indication of Finland’s socialist nature.
There are other ways that a player can choose to bet other than using the slot machine as RAY does. Fintoto was the horse racing pari-mutuel betting organization. They also do remittance back into the industry, give money for racehorse welfare and more.
Furthermore, it provides betting services in relation to sports and is also known as the Finnish lottery. Additionally, they are basically a non-profit organization that channels back its earnings into arts, culture and sports.
Within the Baltic Sea, Finland has several thousands of islands. Play Among Friends (PAF) is the governing body under which all other organizations on these islands fall into one jurisdiction. The eruption of internet usage and growth of online betting led to some problems between PAF and three regulatory bodies on mainland.
Why? PAF began trading on the internet and targeted its customers from mainland China. The 2002 Finnish Act on Gaming made an attempt to clarify the muddy waters. So, RAY was given exclusive rights by the government for online gambling on the mainland, but they did not prohibit PAF.
Mainly, the Finnish government monopolizes gambling. The lawmakers of Brussels who belong to the European Union did not find this good. In 2010, therefore, Finland was called upon by the European Commission on Competition to change her legislation so as make the country’s gambling industry a free market. Nevertheless, despite pressures from EU, Finland has maintained status quo.
A merger of the three state-owned gambling operators, Veikkaus, Fintoto and Rahaautomaattiyhdisty (RAY), was approved by Finland’s Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy in 2015. The New Veikkaus commenced business in 2017 with a minimum annual income of over one billion euros that is distributed to recipients in Finnish society towards development of disciplines such as athletics and studies at large.
Even though the gambling monopoly in Finland has been subject to criticism from citizens and EU, it seems that it will remain. It isn’t that much of a fuss by the government as to prevent its citizens from betting abroad; for example, foreign companies are barred from advertising their websites in the country, but they can do so through some publications.
Finnish computers do not block foreign bookmakers and there is no real penalty for gambling with a foreign corporation. Finland is less stringent in allowing its citizens to gamble compared to its neighboring states. Betting with offshore firms is here to stay, and considering that Finns are some of the biggest gamblers on earth, betting sites all over will be anxious to maintain their doors open for Scandinavians.
Definitely! Finland has the only gambling monopoly for all forms through Veikkaus, a state run company, but there are no laws that stop Finnish players from accessing foreign domains. Have a look at our list of top Finnish betting websites where you can get amazing specials and place bets on your favourite games.
Pesäpallo is often referred to as Finland’s national sport and has popularity in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. In terms of the best betting sites on the internet, they propose attractive prices for Superpesis matches and numerous other leagues throughout Europe and beyond.
According to the Finnish law on income tax, money won from gambling is exempted from taxation if it comes out of a state monopoly (Veikkaus) or otherwise EEA based company.
A. Pesäpallo is a very famous game in Finland where you can find the best betting websites with the most competitive odds on every match in Superpesis. Football and ice hockey are also popular sports to bet on, and winter sports lovers enjoy betting on their favorite athletes during big competitions such as Winter Games.
