We are living in exciting and even historic times for Finnish gambling. For decades, the Finnish system has been based on a monopoly model, where in recent years, only the state-owned Veikkaus has been allowed to operate gambling activities.
Now, this traditional operating model is being changed so that several companies will operate sports and horse betting and digital casino operations in the future. Veikkaus' monopoly will include lottery, instant ticket, and physical casino operations, including slot machines.
The EU Notification Process and Malta’s Delayed Response
Finland sent the draft law on gambling to the EU notification process at the beginning of November, from which the law was expected to return to Finland three months later. However, this has not yet happened because, not so surprisingly, Malta used the opportunity to extend the process by a month.
The content of Malta's "detailed opinion" has not been published, so we do not know why Malta delayed the process, but that will become clear soon. The new deadline for the EU notification is now March 4, after which the law will return to Finland.
No Major Changes Expected Before Parliamentary Discussions
According to preliminary information, a time has been set aside in Parliament for a referral debate on handling gambling legislation for the first week of March. In practice, this would mean that Finland does not intend to make any further changes to the legislative package, at least based on the EU notification process.
This suggests that the issues raised by Malta are not considered so important that the content of the legislative package should be changed because of them. However, the bill submitted to Parliament may differ somewhat from the nearly 400-page document that Finland sent to the EU less than four months ago.
The Role of Lobbying in Shaping the Law
Officials have continued to prepare the law, and according to unofficial information, background lobbying has also been active. Affiliate operators, in particular, with the help of the communications agency, have tried to influence the content of the law so that affiliate marketing would be possible in at least some way when the new legislation comes into force.
I guess that at least the use of social media influencers and other celebrities in affiliate marketing of gambling will not be allowed, but I have been wrong with my predictions before.
The Parliamentary Process and Committee Considerations
The bill is going to the Finnish Parliament in early March. The Administration Committee is the so-called central committee in Parliament when it comes to handling gambling legislation, i.e., the place where issues that may arise from other committees are coordinated.
In my opinion, changing the gambling legislation will affect so many matters that opinions will be sought from almost all parliamentary committees, in any case from more than ten committees.
A critical party will be the Constitutional Law Committee, which, during the handling of the current Lottery Act, demanded changes to the bill's content, which were then implemented. The situation in Åland seems to be a particularly interesting issue from the point of view of Constitutional Law. Åland will continue to have its own gambling legislation.
Still, the operations of an Åland PAF company in mainland Finland require obtaining a Finnish gambling license and complying with mainland Finnish legislation.
Political Consensus and Potential Challenges
Although political parties already have a common view that the gambling legislation needs to be changed and that the right solution for the change is to move to a partial license-based system, there may still be challenging discussions in Parliament about the content of the law.
I assume that the law's adoption will not proceed with complete consensus.
Therefore, it is very possible that the law will not be approved before Parliament goes on summer break around the turn of June-July. On the other hand, the transfer of the law's adoption to the autumn session is unlikely to pose significant challenges to the rest of the schedule.
Responsible Gaming Concerns and Business Interests
I expect strong criticism from social welfare representatives about the proposed legislation's business orientation. Demands will certainly be made that the role of responsible gaming in gambling legislation should be emphasized more than it is now.
I think the goal should be to find the optimal balance between business opportunities and responsibility. What makes the situation interesting is that medium-sized and smaller gambling companies, in particular, have already criticised the bill for not enabling them to conduct sensible business in Finland.
Timeline for Implementation of the New Gambling System
I assume that the entire bill will be approved by Parliament no later than autumn 2025, and the law will officially enter into force at the beginning of 2026.
However, the legislative package Parliament will consider does not provide nearly all the details that gambling operators are interested in when considering whether it is worth applying for a Finnish license. According to the timetable, officials are to prepare second-level legislation (regulations) by autumn at the latest, which will clarify the needed details.
At the same time, future license conditions are also being prepared to launch the license process in early 2026.
Expected Licensing and Implementation Schedule
In Sweden, the license application process was completed on a fast schedule. Based on this, it has been estimated in Finland that the first phase of licenses could be granted by early summer (June?) 2026.
In this case, at least in theory, it would be possible for the new gambling system to be introduced in early July 2026. In practice, however, this schedule is at risk of being delayed because, at least for now, the Finnish state budget has not allocated sufficient funds to construct a new supervision system.
However, it is possible that funding could be obtained in a supplementary budget, but there is no complete certainty about this.
As stated in the bill, the goal is for the new gambling system to be in practice by the beginning of 2027 at the latest. I believe Finland will start operating as soon as possible based on the new legislation.
This could happen any time between July 1, 2026, and January 1, 2027. Unfortunately, we will probably have to wait for several months for information on the practical start date.
The Role of B2B Licensing in Preventing Illegal Gambling
Instead, it seems reasonably sure that the license required of gambling providers will be introduced from the beginning of 2028. If the “B2B” license works as well as it is believed to work, it will become the regulator’s most important tool in preventing illegal gambling activities in Finland.
What This Means for Gambling Operators and Customers
Based on the schedule described above, I believe that gambling companies will make decisions in principle about entering the Finnish market in the coming months.
I suppose that several dozen companies will apply for a gambling license, which will significantly change our gambling operations. I believe this will be an excellent change for most customers, but we must be able to avoid excessive activities, especially marketing.
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