Finnish Streamer Receives Suspended Jail Sentence after Promoting Illegal Gambling

A Finnish influencer and content creator has been slapped with a suspended jail sentence for promoting illegal gambling in the country. The online celebrity will also be forced to forfeit tens of thousands of dollars in assets because of his violation.

The influencer in question is none other than Lauri Kangas, better known by his alias Lateksituppi. He boasts a large following on the Amazon-owned streaming site Twitch where he streams gambling content.

However, local authorities found out that Lateksituppi promoted games not offered by the Finnish gambling monopoly, Veikkaus Oy. In addition, he promoted illegal products, such as instant casino games, across his social media accounts.

Since this is a violation of the rules outlined in Finland’s Lotteries Act, Lateksituppi was taken to court.

The Streamer Received a Suspended Sentence

The court concluded that Lateksituppi’s content specifically targeted Finnish players since his streams were in Finnish and designed to appeal to local audiences. This also applies to his social media channels, which promoted illegal gambling content to Finns.

For reference, the celebrity has a following of over 61,000 people on Instagram

Because of the overwhelming evidence of his violations, Lateksituppi was handed a 50-day suspended prison sentence. While he will be spared jail for now, further violations might cause him to serve the sentence.

In addition to the threat of having to go to jail, Lateksituppi will also be forced to forfeit thousands of dollars in assets. At first, the prosecution wanted him to pay EUR 69,313 (around $74,729). However, the court eventually settled for an asset forfeiture of EUR 51,300 (around $55,308).

Lateksituppi Is Likely Unimpressed

It is uncertain whether this sentence will impress or upset Lateksituppi, who was described as arrogant by local news outlets. Not only did the streamer arrive at the district court in a golden SUV but he also parked it in spaces reserved for the police.

In addition, reports claim that he was rude and that he mocked the people who sued him on his social media channel. The gambling celebrity allegedly slammed his court adversaries by saying that they will never be as rich as he has gotten by promoting unlicensed gambling in Finland. Lateksituppi bragged about making the same money some people make in years by simply lying around and playing games that are illegal in the country.

In other news, Finland recently fined BML Group, which breached its advertising rules.