Maintenance of a gambling monopoly in the EU: Finland’s gambling policy as a case

The EU Member States in general have striven to comply with Court of Justice of the European Union rulings while holding on to their national regulatory power as far as possible. The Finnish gambling policy is an example. The analysis is based on case law and policy documents. The results of the analysis point to the interpretation that Finland has successfully contained the EU’s politico-legal influence on its national gambling policy and to a great extent kept regulatory power in its own hands. It is suggested that the development of the Finnish gambling policy in relation to the EU from the early period of Finland’s accession to present day can be productively interpreted as having been formulated from national starting points but with ‘EU in mind’. Finland has managed to secure its national competence regarding its gambling policy. The national discretion has even increased and it is hard to perceive much EU influence in the decision to merge the three gambling monopoly operators into one in 2017. It is concluded that it seems likely that EU will in the future allow more national discretion for Member States