Finland

Finland is ending its state gambling monopoly. Veikkaus Oy, wholly state-owned, has held the exclusive right to offer gambling in mainland Finland under the Lotteries Act (1047/2001), supervised by the Gambling Administration of the National Police Board (Poliisihallitus) under the Ministry of the Interior. In December 2025 the Finnish Parliament passed a new Gambling Act (adopted 16 December 2025, signed into law in January 2026) that opens fixed-odds betting, pari-mutuel betting, online casino games, online bingo and online slots to competitive licensing. The National Police Board began accepting licence applications on 1 March 2026, and the licensed online market opens on 1 July 2027 when the Act enters into force in full; from 2028 licensed operators must use only licensed B2B suppliers. Licensed online operators pay a flat 22% tax on GGR. Veikkaus retains a monopoly on lotteries, scratch cards and physical slot machines/land-based games and continues to pay the 12% lottery tax on those. Licences run up to five years, and gambling supervision moves to a dedicated authority.

Why the monopoly is opening

The stated rationale mirrors the pattern seen across the Nordics: a single state operator cannot channel demand when players can freely reach offshore sites that sit outside domestic oversight. Money staked with unlicensed operators generates no Finnish tax and falls beyond harm-prevention rules. Government materials frame the reform as improving channelling within a national legislative and supervisory framework, balancing harm reduction against operators' willingness to seek a licence. Opening online betting and casino play to competition is intended to bring that activity back inside a regulated, taxed and supervised perimeter rather than continuing to lose it.

The transition timeline

The change is staged, not immediate. Parliament adopted the new Gambling Act on 16 December 2025 and the President signed it in January 2026. Licence applications to the National Police Board opened on 1 March 2026, but Veikkaus keeps its online exclusivity until 30 June 2027. The licensed market opens on 1 July 2027, when the Act enters into force in full and approved operators may begin trading. A further step follows in 2028, from which licensed operators must source games only from licensed B2B suppliers. Until 1 July 2027, no competitive online licence is operative.

A split, not an end

The reform partially dismantles the monopoly rather than abolishing it. Fixed-odds and pari-mutuel betting, online casino, online bingo and online slots move to competitive licensing. Veikkaus Oy, wholly state-owned, retains an exclusive right over lotteries, scratch cards and physical slot machines and land-based games. The result is a divided market: a contestable online segment sitting alongside a preserved monopoly on draw-based and premises-based products. Reading the regime therefore requires identifying which product a given activity falls under, because the licensing route, the competent operator and the applicable tax differ across the two halves.

Two tax rates

The split market carries a split tax treatment. Licensed online operators face a flat 22% of gross gaming revenue from 2027, applied to the newly contestable betting and online casino segment. Veikkaus continues to pay the lottery tax, arpajaisvero, at 12% on the games that remain within its monopoly. The two figures are not comparable like-for-like: 22% is a GGR-based levy on competitive licence holders, while the 12% arpajaisvero applies to the retained state-operator products. Licences run for up to five years, and the tax framework attaches to the licensed activity rather than to the operator's nationality.

Supervision and player protection

Supervision is being professionalised and separated from policing. Oversight currently sits with the National Police Board's Gambling Administration under the Ministry of the Interior, but a dedicated supervisory authority is to take over gambling regulation as the market opens. Player-protection requirements attach to licensed play: a minimum age of 18, mandatory identified play so every account is tied to a verified person, and loss and spending limits. A national self-exclusion register, letting a person block their own access across licensed operators, is planned. Several of these mechanisms depend on the full framework and were not yet operative before 1 July 2027.

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Sources (5)