Study title

Gambling in Finland, Spring 2023

Dataset ID Number

FSD3899

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3899
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3899

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Veikkaus

Abstract

The survey explores the opinions, perceptions, and habits related to gambling in Finland. The study was conducted by the state-owned gambling monopoly company Veikkaus Oy to provide up-to-date information on gambling habits and the extent of problems caused by gambling.

First, the respondents were asked whether they had ever gambled, whether they had gambled in the past 12 months and whether they had used Veikkaus or foreign gambling company games. Those who had gambled on foreign websites were asked which service providers they had used and why they had used foreign ones. Next questions charted how often the respondents did certain types of gambling (lottery, online poker, slot machines, gambling onsite in casinos, scratch cards etc.).

Problems caused by gambling during the past 12 months were investigated by asking how much money the respondents usually spent on gambling a week, how often they went back another day to win back money lost, claimed to others to be winning money when were in fact losing, or gambled more than they had intended. Other questions explored whether the respondents had felt guilty when gambling, had wanted to stop gambling but hadn't thought they could, had hidden betting slips, documents related to debts and other signs of gambling from important people in their life.

Financial consequences were studied with questions focusing on arguments with others over the way the respondents handled money, had these arguments been centered on gambling, had the respondents borrowed money from someone and not paid back because of gambling, had they taken time from work or study to gamble, and had they borrowed or acquired money to gamble or pay gambling debts and from whom or where. Finally, the respondents were asked which types of gambling they felt might cause them problems in managing their gambling. Many questions used in the survey were based on the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS-R), with some adaptations to Finnish circumstances, as well as the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PSGI) measure, which maps the harms of gambling.

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, language, education level, average monthly income, economic activity, degree of urbanisation of the municipality of residence, region (NUTS3) and major region.

Keywords

addiction; debts; gambling; interpersonal relations; well-being (health)

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• General health and well-being (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Veikkaus' Gambling in Finland Surveys

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Time Period Covered

2023

Collection Dates

2023-01-20 – 2023-04-15

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 15-74 residing in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

Bisnode is responsible for obtaining the sample for the population survey. The sample is formed by random sampling from the Population Information System, after which Bisnode Oy retrieves the telephone numbers for the sample. People who do not have a telephone number, people who have refused to disclose their information, people living in institutions, people with unlisted telephone numbers, and people who have been issued with a security ban are excluded from the sample. The data was collected by 86 trained interviewers from Taloustutkimus.

Collection Mode

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

17.7

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, the postal code variable and certain variables containing open-ended responses to the response option 'Other, please specify' were removed from the data at FSD. In addition, the municipality codes were aggregated to a statistical grouping of municipalities (degree of urbanisation) and a region of residence (NUTS3). In addition, monthly income (T3) was top-coded.

Weighting

The data includes a weight variable (PAINO) that weights the data according to gender, age, and region of residence to correspond to the population of mainland Finland.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Veikkaus: Gambling in Finland, Spring 2023 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2025-06-25). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3899; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3899

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Turja, Tuomo (2023). Rahapelaaminen Suomessa 2023 kevät. Väestökysely 2023 [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Taloustutkimus. https://cms.veikkaus.fi/sites/default/files/content/assets/vastuullisuus/2023-10-18---pelihaittakysely-kevat-2023-tiedoteversio.pdf [viitattu 30.6.2025]