While Europe has been traditionally thought of as a more permissive and gaming-friendly environment than, for example, the U.S., more and more countries are considering cracking down on online gambling, often putting them at odds with the European Council, which favors relatively free trade between European nations. The next country to take on online gambling may be Finland.
Finland's Stance on Online Gambling
The Finnish Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat is claiming that a report is circulating within the Finnish government recommending an amendment to gambling laws that would give poker players the right to recoup any gambling losses.
How the Finnish Law on Online Gambling Would Work
The move would be designed to get around current Finnish and European rules regarding online gambling, ending Finnish participation in foreign Internet gaming without expressly forbidding it. The law would give Finnish online poker players legal recourse to get back any money they may have lost playing poker. The government would not reimburse the players, rather they would compel either the credit card company who loaded the account or the site itself to refund the player's losses. How the government could enforce such a law is unclear, but the goal would be to force the online sites to block Finnish players or face financial ruin.
Reason for the Proposed Finnish Online Gambling Law
While in many cases, it seems that European governments attempt to block online gambling to prevent money from bleeding out of the local economy, the Finnish government ostensibly is far more concerned about the dangers of problem gambling to addictive personalities and to children.
More info on gambling laws:
U.S.gambling laws
European gambling laws
German gambling laws
Swedish gambling laws
