Panel on Finland at EGR Europe Briefing 2026

As Finland is now moving towards a reregulation of the domestic market, moving from a 100% state monopoly to a licence system for online betting and gaming, the panel on was of great interest for those present.

The reasons for Finland moving from a state monopoly to a licensing system are both political and practical, due to consumer protection concerns and a substantial decrease in revenues as the current system is not channelling players to the current regulated operator Veikkaus. Something which both the Government and Veikkaus have acknowledged thus entailing a climate for change. In addition to burgeoning questions related to the principle of state ownership/monopolies

The new Finnish gaming and betting law is well balanced and with all product verticals, retention bonuses, sensible tax rate, multi-licence approach and good possibilities for marketing/sponsorships. The law is a good package with legal clarity, a path for market entrance and will from the outset entail a good, viable commercial market for operators. The new system is also founded around strong technical supervision, high documentation standards, structured reporting, thus making compliance data driven and technically controlled.

One of the challenges will be market protection and the limitation the illegal market. The Finnish Government has not set a specific channelling target, just the highest possible rate. The success factor for the market will be a good dialogue with licensed operators to ensure a predictable  understanding of e.g. marketing and bonus requirements, via their supervision to secure a level playing field for practices and consumer protection to enhance compliance. Denmark was referred to as an example of best practice here. A cooperative and proactive approach from the new regulatory authority will be imperative. This will be important as Finland has not adopted payment blocking, due to constitutional law reasons, and IP blocking due to difficulties on implementation with the Åland islands. B2B licensing is also an important element to secure regulated services from the wider ecosystem.

An issue that there is slight disagreement on is the ban on affiliate marketing with claims that this will only benefit the larger operators who have the resources to buy themselves into the traditional marketing channels. Smaller licensed operators will not have the same possibilities to promote their services which could damage the intended channelling policy. FDJ UNITED support the current regulation and amendments here should not be undertaken before a proper evaluation of the new licensing system has been undertaken.

In a pan-European context Finland has adopted a market friendly and liberal approach, in light of burgeoning restrictions in other European countries, e.g. tax and marketing which were addressed in other panels at the conference. Finland will be holding a general election in April 2027 with a strong possibility of a new Government being elected. When the market opens in July 2027 there will be an increase in marketing for other companies than Veikkaus which will be new to Finnish society, especially for casino products. This could entail a public backlash demanding amendments to the law.

Then again Finland has historically had a high social acceptance of gaming and betting and the activity is widely accepted in Finland. An open and transparent approach from the industry to supply data and facts will be imperative and an evaluation of the new market should be undertaken before the second part of 2027 before any amendments are considered. This should also be conducted in dialogue with the industry.

Despite some slightly different points of view, we in the industry all have one common goal: a well-functioning market with consumer safeguards and high channelisation which will be of benefit for Finnish society.