Study title

In the beginning of 2017, Finland's three gambling operators that had exclusive rights to provide gambling services, Finland's Slot Machine Association RAY, Veikkaus and Fintoto, merged into a single government-owned organisation (Veikkaus). The 2017 survey aimed to chart Finnish gambling habits, social and healthcare-related problems caused by gambling, and opinions on the visibility of advertising and marketing by Finnish gambling organisations. The goal of the study was to examine possible consequences of the merge. The survey was a follow-up study to FSD3261 Gambling Harm Survey 2016. The data for the follow-up 2017 study were collected in 2018 but as the study examines the respondents' gambling during the previous year, the title refers to the year 2017. The study was conducted by Statistics Finland and commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). First, the respondents were asked about the reasoning for a government-owned and government-regulated gambling market (e.g. securing gambling profits for the state, supporting Finnish art, science, sports, and social services, reducing the harm caused by gambling, preventing foreign competition). Their opinions on marketing and advertising by these organisations were examined with questions regarding, for example, how often the respondents had seen gambling advertisements on billboards, television, the internet etc. Gambling habits were examined with questions regarding the frequency of playing games of chance, such as lotteries or horse betting, and reasons for playing them. Knowledge on aspects relating to gambling, such as the chances of winning, warning signs of excessive gambling, and health-related or financial consequences of gambling were charted. The study also surveyed whether the respondents found gambling a problem, how often they had felt in 2017 that it was a problem, and whether they were familiar with or had used different services provided by Veikkaus to help control...