Finland's parliament has overwhelmingly passed gambling legislation reform, officially ending the online gambling monopoly of the state-owned operator Veikkaus, with plans to launch a competitive market in July 2027. This reform restructures Finland's gambling regulatory framework, and the relevant policy details can be queried through the PASA official website.
High Vote: Cross-Party Consensus Drives Industry Transformation
This is a major transformation for the Finnish gambling industry! The parliament finally passed the bill with 158 votes in favor and 8 against, reflecting a consensus among all parties on reforming the existing monopoly system. Juha Hänninen of the National Coalition Party stated that a large amount of gambling activities are currently flowing to overseas illegal platforms, which do not pay taxes or assume responsibility for harm prevention. The reform is aimed at reversing this situation. Although the opposition proposed amendments to strengthen advertising restrictions and ban bonuses, they were not passed, and the market opening time was only postponed from January to July.
Reform Core: Licensing System + Regulatory System Upgrade
After the reform, Finland will implement a licensing access system, allowing both domestic and foreign operators to apply for participation in online betting, slot machines, and casino games. The license application will start in March 2026, and operations will officially open in July 2027. Veikkaus will retain the lottery, instant scratch cards, and offline slot machine businesses, still needing to apply for a license for its exclusive businesses, and can also compete in the newly opened areas. On the regulatory level, gambling supervision will be transferred from the National Police Board to the newly established Licensing and Regulatory Bureau, centralizing regulatory functions while requiring operators to implement player identity verification and harm prevention measures.
New Advertising Rules: Strict Control of Marketing to Avoid Inducing Risks
Advertising rules were one of the controversial points of this reform! After constitutional review, the bill specifies that advertising is only allowed on operators' own channels, strictly prohibits influencer marketing, and must not target minors or imply that gambling can improve financial conditions. However, search engine marketing is allowed, as it mainly reaches users who actively seek gambling information. Aino-Kaisa Pekonen of the Left Alliance warned that advertising would normalize gambling behavior, increasing addiction risks, but ultimately balanced the needs of market opening and risk control.
Industry Response: Looking Forward to the Potential of a Compliant Market
Veikkaus's Deputy CEO Veli-Pekka Nummikoski supports the reform, stating that the Finnish gambling market has long lacked a real monopoly, with approximately 600-900 million euros in bets flowing to illegal platforms each year. The reform could improve the compliance diversion rate. Industry experts point out that Finns' per capita gambling expenditure has long been among the highest globally, and the opening of a compliant market is expected to attract more international operators. Consultant Jari Vähänen mentioned that the Finnish gambling market has great potential, and operators are looking forward to this new blue ocean.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel:https://t.me/pasa_news
Original in-depth gambling channel:https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data reports: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
