Gambling problems as a political framing-Safeguarding the monopolies in Finland and Sweden

Abstract

Many EU member states are currently rethinking their gambling laws and policies to adapt to European law and to take into account increased technological possibilities for the gambling industry and increased competition on national gambling markets. Some of the countries have responded to the new situation by giving up or remarkably weakening their monopolies, but other countries have, on the contrary, reformed their monopoly systems to strengthen them to meet the new challenges. This article analyses gambling policy reforms in Finland and Sweden, where the liberalisation trend has been contested to safeguard the monopoly systems. The main means have been an increased focus on gambling-related problems and emphasis on the responsible nature and particular capability of monopoly-based systems to tackle these problems. This has made it possible not only to keep the monopoly system intact but also to expand its field of activities to the Internet as a responsible measure.