Finland has the second highest penetration of broadband internet in the world (second only to the US) and it has the very highest penetration of mobile phones in the world. These statistics are indicative of how very outward looking, innovative and connected Finland is.

In fact, driven by its success in high-tech, including its most famous brand Nokia, Finland is the most competitive country in the world, according to the Global Competitiveness Report. It also has a strong biotechnology, paper and shipbuilding industry. Believe it or not, 25% of all cruise ships are made in Finland. Little wonder then that freight transport in Finland is trouble-free and efficient, which is good news for both the freight company and its customers.

Finland is a EU member country and shares a border with Russia, so it has a unique position in freight services at the epicentre of a fast developing marketplace that includes North West Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltic republics. So Finland is an extremely important gateway for shipping companies.

Finland’s gateway position as a freight forwarding route to Russia is significant. Over 40% of the EU’s road freight to Russia are shipped from Finland or travel via Finland. Because of its excellent international freight infrastructure, many foreign companies use Finland as a base for their transportation and marketing to Russia and the Baltic countries, especially Estonia.

The freight transport system is effectively based on its road and rail network, which is supported by a large number of freight services companies. There are more than fifty shipping ports in Finland, of which more than ten are on the inland waterways, which are connected to the Baltic Sea by the Saimaa Canal. Just under half of the ports are open the whole year round, so a shipping company can rely on freight transport in the region being stable and reliable.

The ports of Hamina, Kotka and Mustola, which are near the Russian border, focus on bulk cargo, free zone activities and forestry goods. All ports in Finland make good use of automated techniques, meaning that freight forwarding is efficient and fast. One aspect which really helps freight transport is that Finland’s rail gauge is the same as Russia’s.

The combination of its excellent road and rail network with its efficient range of year-round ports means that Finland is an important hub for shipping companies. The country’s freight services will only continue to increase in importance as the economies in Russia and the Baltic countries expand.

Online gambling is a general term for gambling using the Internet, a topic that sets most countries and their legislature on edge. In Finland they have done what many countries have been unable to do, and that is having it be completely unregulated. Finland is on the opposite end of the spectrum from France and Denmark and even surpasses the United Kingdom in its liberal laws.

The Finland Kasino

Many people look at the United Kingdom as the ideal when it comes to online gambling, but many people think that they way that Finland handles the kasino makes more sense. Why not just allow for people to go out and do what they want to do online and not worry about it?
It is really difficult for a government to control what their citizens are doing when they are online and when you ban something that is on the computer it is very difficult to control. Many countries are learning that is costs more to prohibit the kasino than it does to allow it to go on completely legally.

Finland has found that its citizens enjoy the kasino and they don’t see any reason for it to stop being in existence. Finns are known to spend more than 50 million annually on the kasino, and yet some studies suggest that they have lower incidents of gambling addictions than some other countries where online gambling is not allowed at all.

Having legal access to the kasino makes a lot of people much less likely to over indulge because they know that it is there when they want to play and they don’t have to break the law to play either!

While Finland has let things go completely unregulated until now, there has been some noise made about them charging some sort of kasino tax. No one knows for sure how this will work exactly, but many other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Italy actually charge casinos a 3% tax and they are able to make millions each year off of the kasino.

This makes sense as it will allow the Finns to pump money back into their government and into their economy while the people do what they are going to do.

Many people wonder why it took Finland so long to figure out that they could actually make money on their unregulated kasino laws. They could have  been making a lot of money all along, but they were happy just to be hands off and not have all of the headaches that other countries have in regards  to their gambling laws, bans, and prohibited game play. Finland should be interesting to see how they evolve over the years and how many other countries follow in their footsteps when they see that it is much more profitable and easier to do business this way.