Despite the legal gambling age rise in Finland, the country still has the actual issue of underage gambling.
According to an expert agency, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, gambling rates have significantly dropped among youngsters since Finland raised its legal gambling age in 2011. However, students aged 15-16 are still into gambling.
A survey is being conducted every four to five years to compare success rates. Statistics from 2011 showed the following results on the gambling gender survey:
87% men
54% women
By 2024, these numbers had significantly dropped:
25% men
6% women
Antti Koivula from Finnish law firm Legal Gaming commented on the survey:
“My key takeaway from the survey is that 25% of 15-year-old boys gamble, which is way too much for my liking.”
Despite the significant change in the numbers, this issue remains actual in Finland. Almost 15% of local students accept the fact that a lack of money made them gamble. They gamble across a range of products.
These surveys are part of a European project called the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), which collects different data from different countries and will have them published in 2025.
