Online gambling law and regulation in Finland

The state-owned Veikkaus Oy currently holds a monopoly over authorised gambling in Finland. However, the Finnish gambling system is scheduled to undergo reform over the next few years, and a government proposal regarding the reform was submitted to Parliament on 20 March 2025. The Government proposes to end Veikkaus Oy's monopoly on betting as well as on online slot machine and casino games, by the end of 2026. As a result, the provision of these games would be opened to competition through a licensing system.

More specifically, the licences would include:

1. an exclusive licence granted only to Veikkaus Oy for the provision of lotteries, pool betting and physical slot machines as well as physical casino games;
2. gambling licences granted for betting (such as fixed-odds betting, totalisator betting, on-track horse betting and virtual betting) and for certain types of online gambling games (such as online casino games—e.g., online roulette, card games, dice and other similar games—online money bingo and online slot machines); and
3. game software licences for the provision of software used in running gambling games.

The National Police Board will continue as the supervisory authority and will grant the licences under the new Gambling Act until the end of 2026. Beginning in 2027, the licensing and supervision of gambling services will be transferred to a new national Finnish supervisory agency, which is scheduled to be established at the beginning of 2026.

If the Government approves the proposal as submitted, gambling operators may apply for operating licences starting in early 2026, with licensed gambling services launching at the beginning of 2027. Furthermore, game software licences may be applied for from the beginning of 2027, and the requirement to use only licensed game software in gambling games will come into effect at the beginning of 2028.

The proposal is planned to be reviewed by the Parliament during its spring season 2025.