The Finnish Government rejected the application for an operating license stating that only one entity at a time may hold a license for each of the three categories: lottery and betting, horse racing and slot machines and casinos.
The licenses, which are currently held by state-ownned companies, Veikkaus, Fintoto and Finland\’s Slot Machine Association, expire at the end of 2006.
The Finnish Government rejected Ladbrokes\’ plea that the exclusive right is against EU competition rules.
In separate news, Jesper Karrbrink, Chief Executive of Svenska Spel, the state owned company which received the green light to introduce regulated online poker in Sweden, estimated that the company will be able to corner at least one third of the 9-10 billion kronor ($1.1-1.2bn) Swedish market and to generate a profit of 1 biliion kronor ($124m) within a year.
The Swedih Cabinet decided to employ Svenska Spel, as opposed to a private operator, as they feel that Svenska would be less likely to be driven by private profit interests and more susceptible to government pressures and influence.
The two-year trial comes with several key stipulations: a minimum age of 18 to be allowed to play online poker, marketing will only be allowed in newspapers and on the internet and the players will only be allowed to gamble after setting a pre-defined limit on how much they want to stake, with the maximum set at 79,400 kronor ($9,300).
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