Finland Slots Debate

The global debate over the merits and pitfalls of slot machines has now extended into Finland, a Scandinavian country that has had a strong and quite commonplace presence of state-run lottery and slot machines for several years now. Currently, the legal gambling age is fifteen, an entire six year difference from what it is in the States.

When it comes to age limits and Prohibition-style legislation, there are always two schools of thought. One always is on the side of caution, where an older age limit would punish underage behavior. The opposing school of thought always advocates a lower age limit, so as to demystify the behavior and let the parents decide their own regulations. As history shows, whenever something is fully prohibited, whether it be alcohol, drugs, online slots and casinos, or slot machines, there will always be people trying to break the law and the product in question becomes more highly in demand.

Now Finland is going back and forth between those who want the slot machines to stay where they are, that is, in shops, restaurants, and even transportation, and those who want to limit the number of slots. Still others want to change the legal age from 15 to 18, in an attempt to curb the younger crowd’s involvement with a potentially addictive and financially risky behavior. However, slot machines bring in such a large percentage of the small country’s revenue, that Liisa Hyysala, the country’s Minister of Social Affairs and Health is quite against the idea. In fact, she would rather increase the number of machines that Finland already has.

This whole discussion doesn’t even include the debate over online slots, which has been causing a huge decrease in revenue for land casinos and slots parlors due to the high competition, and is a whole other issue in and of itself. That’s another article.

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