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Finland is moving toward a licensed online gambling market, and the pressure is now hitting both sides of the transition. Regulators are reviewing about 50 licence applications, while Veikkaus is tightening player protection before its monopoly ends.
Good to Know
- Around 50 operators have applied for Finnish gambling licences.
- Veikkaus will add age-based loss checkpoints for customers.
- Finland plans to open its liberalised iGaming market in 2027.
Foreign Operators Line Up For Finland Licence Race
The National Police Board has received about 50 gambling licence applications since Finland began its new regulatory process. Most applicants are foreign companies, which has made the review process more complex. 24 operators had applied by 30 March. Each applicant must pay a €29,000 processing fee for licences valid in 2026 before full review can begin.
Juha Katainen, a senior advisor, said:
“The majority of applicants are foreign companies, which increases the complexity of processing and evaluating their submissions.”
The regulator is checking the reliability and suitability of applicants through corporate register extracts, certificates, financial documents and other reports. It is also looking at affiliated companies where their finances could affect licensed operations. That review gives Finland a way to test operators for compliance, funding strength and money laundering risk before the market opens.
Finland passed its iGaming bill in January. The plan is to end the online betting and gaming monopoly of Veikkaus in 2027, while lottery and some land-based products remain outside the new competitive model.
Veikkaus Tightens Player Limits Before Monopoly Ends
Veikkaus is also changing its responsible gambling system before private operators enter. The new phased safety net will use age-based loss checkpoints to identify customers who reach higher loss levels during a calendar year.
Players aged 18 to 19 will hit a first checkpoint at €4,000 and an annual loss limit at €8,000. Players aged 20 to 24 will reach a first checkpoint at €8,000 and an annual loss limit at €24,000. Customers aged 25 and older will have a first checkpoint at €24,000, but no annual loss cap.
Once a customer reaches a checkpoint, play cannot continue without a care conversation with a Veikkaus specialist. The rules apply across Veikkaus gaming products, but slot machines and table games at Casino Helsinki follow separate controls.
Susanna Saikkonen, director of sustainability at Veikkaus, said:
“The customer’s situation is assessed according to a pre-agreed operating model. If the decision is made to continue playing, the next loss checkpoint can be agreed with the customer.”
Saikkonen said the lower limits for younger customers are meant to prevent harm earlier:
“Our goal is to identify harmful gambling better than before using real-time data and provide customers with proactive care communications. Lower loss limits are set for young customers because their financial situation and life circumstances are often still developing and the risks associated with gambling can be greater.
“Lower limits are a preventive measure with which we want to support safe and controlled gambling and help young people monitor their own gambling and stop in time if necessary.”
Market rules still need more detail. Jarkko Nordlund, head of iCasino and sportsbook at Veikkaus, said operators want clarity around bonuses, advertising, media use, duty of care and player protection.
“The law is fine. Now everyone is begging a bit, like, what are the definitions of the law? We still don’t know how we’re able to use bonusing, what advertising is allowed, what media is allowed, duty of care, player protection. Everyone is pro licensed market, but we would love to have the nitty gritty details.”
Nordlund has also warned that black-market controls remain weak.
“There is no real mechanism for the black market to, for example, block payments, or whatever, for the ones operating outside the licensed system.”
Veikkaus could also face a bigger ownership debate. Industry consultant Jari Vähänen estimated the whole company could be worth up to €4.5 billion, based on a 10x multiple of its €450 million annual gaming surplus. He put digital verticals such as online casino and sports betting at €1 billion to €1.5 billion, while Lotto and gaming machines could account for about €3 billion.
Finland is following other Nordic markets by replacing a monopoly model with licensed online gambling, but the balance between channelisation, advertising rules and player protection remains the key test.
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