Skip to content

Online Gaming in Finland

Authored by - Legal Gaming (Last Updated January 2025)

Overview

Closed

Finland Online Gaming Overview

State Monopoly/Regulated, Unregulated for Private Operators,

Gambling in Finland is governed by the Lotteries Act, which grants Veikkaus Oy an exclusive monopoly. Åland operates under its own framework, with PAF holding the regional monopoly. The National Police Board oversees compliance. A 2026 legislative reform will introduce a licensing system for betting and online casino games, while lotteries and land-based casinos remain under exclusive rights.

Market Size
In 2023, the gross gaming revenue (GGR) of the entire Finnish gambling market was estimated to be EUR 1,515 million (-5%), while Veikkaus’ GGR was EUR 1,032 million (-3.6%). The introduction of a licensing system is estimated to significantly increase the size of the market in product categories subject to the licensing system, from the current EUR 1,000 million level to EUR 1,200 million by 2027, which will be the first year license holders are allowed to operate in the Finnish market, and to EUR 1,500 million by 2029.

Competitive Landscape
None yet, due to the existing monopoly system. However, according to the draft Gambling anticipated to enter into force on January 1, 2026, Finland will replace the monopoly system with a licensing system, and licensed operators will be allowed to operate in the Finnish market by the beginning of 2027.

Localisation
N/A

Top Key Attractions and Challenges
Attractions

  • Unlicensed market in which players are not sanctioned for playing on foreign gambling websites;
  • GGR per capita is high;
  • Upcoming market opening.

Challenges

  • The National Police Boards enforcement activity towards foreign gambling operators targeting Finland in their marketing.

Licensing & Regulation

Monopoly licence / Unregulated (No gaming tolerance)

Finland Online Gaming Licensing & Regulation

According to the Finnish Lotteries Act, Veikkaus, a state-owned private limited liability company, has the exclusive right to provide both land-based and online gambling services in the territory of Finland. According to the draft Gambling Act, Finland will replace the monopoly system with a licensing system, and licensed operators will be allowed to operate in the Finnish market by the...

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

Enforcement

Irregular / Mixed impact

Finland Online Gaming Enforcement

Regulating Bodies
The Ministry of Interior has the main responsibility for drafting and amending gambling legislation.

The Gambling Department of the National Police Board (Arpajaishallinto) is responsible for monitoring the provision and advertising of gambling activities in the territory of Finland.

In general, the existing enforcement appetite of the Finnish authorities can be described as moderate. However, the National...

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

Marketing

Banned

Finland Online Gaming Marketing

Only the exclusive right holder, Veikkaus, is allowed to market gambling services legally in Finland. It should be noted that there are several restrictions concerning the marketing of gambling activities carried out by Veikkaus due to the existing responsible gambling requirements.

The National Police Board is responsible for monitoring the advertising of gambling activities in Finland. In the past warnings...

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

Fees

Low

Finland Online Gaming Fees

According to the Finnish Lotteries Act, Veikkaus, a state-owned private limited liability company, has the exclusive right to provide both land-based and online gambling services in Finland.

 

The new Gambling Act, expected to take effect on January 1, 2026, will introduce a licensing system in Finland. Gambling licenses will be available for fixed-odds betting, pari-mutuel betting, virtual betting, online...

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

Taxes

Low

Finland Online Gaming Taxes

According to the Finnish Lotteries Tax Act, Veikkaus and PAF are liable to pay 12% lottery tax that is calculated from the gross gambling revenue (GGR). From the beginning of 2024 gambling proceeds were not “ear marked” anymore for sports, science, health and social welfare, horse breeding and equestrian sports, as used to be the case in the past, but...

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

Future Outlook

Positive

Finland Online Gaming Future Outlook

The latest Lotteries Act reform entered into force from the beginning of 2022, though some of the changes were scheduled to enter into force in 2023 and 2024. The purpose of the reform was to strengthen Veikkaus monopoly and prevent gambling problems.The reform allowed Veikkaus to establish a subsidiary offering B2B gambling services to other companies.

On October 23, 2023,...

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

Unlock Your Free Trial

Sign up for your 7-day free trial and get access to regulatory intelligence today.

If you are subscribing to a free trial as a part of a Corporate Entity you are entitled to a further 2 free users for the 7 day free trial period. To activate this, we require the following information:
Company Address
Country of Incorporation

Legal Expert

Legal Gaming

Office locations Finland (Helsinki)

We are dynamic lawyers and legal consultants providing legal services tailor-made for companies operating in the iGaming sector. Our lawyers have extensive experience in the iGaming industry from working with online gambling and betting operators, online slot game suppliers, other services providers and regulatory authorities.

We are your experts concerning the Finnish gambling law.

Contact this expert

Contact Finland - Legal Gaming

Sorry. You must be logged in to view this form.