Ålands Penningautomatförening or PAF is a Finnish company that operates a legal gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 monopoly

Monopoly

A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

 on the Åland Islands, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. PAF also has an Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

-based gambling and gaming operation, in addition to operating and maintaining casino

Casino

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

 and gaming activities on a large number of cruiseferry

Cruiseferry

A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while others use the ships as means of...

s. The purpose of PAF is to generate funds for humanitarian

Humanitarianism

In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...

 and social causes on the Åland Islands. PAF also have subsidiaries in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

.

PAF's counterpart in Mainland Finland

Mainland Finland

Mainland Finland is a term used for instance in statistics to exclude the autonomous Åland Islands under Finnish sovereignty. Mainland Finland is not to be confused with Finland Proper, which is the province adjacent to Åland...

 is the state-owned gambling institution RAY

RAY

RAY is a not-for-profit gambling company in Finland. Like Veikkaus, RAY is a gambling monopoly whose proceedings go to domestic charity such as pensioner care and gambling addiction treatment...

 ("Raha-automaattiyhdistys" in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

). Disputes over jurisdiction between the two associations are ongoing.

In February 2005, PAF was sentenced for violation of gambling law for actively promoting its online gambling activities to Mainland Finland. In December, PAF was yet again placed under investigation, as Finland's interior minister Kari Rajamäki

Kari Rajamäki

Kari Juhani Rajamäki is a Finnish politician from the Social Democratic Party and a former Minister of the Interior.Rajamäki has been MP since 1983 and represents Southern Savonia...

alleged that PAF had continued its gambling in Finland while ignoring its last sentence. Representatives for PAF disputes Rajamäki's claims and contend PAF operate within the boundaries of the law.