Opening a Finnish online gambling market took lately a step forward as Petteri Orpo’s Government published its Programme for the current term of office. In its new action plan the Government has set its goal to open Finnish online gambling markets through license system, as the current monopoly system has not succeeded on achieving its targets: people are still facing significant gambling problems and fair amount of online gaming is directed outside of state’s monopoly company Veikkaus’ games. The aim of the now confirmed reform is to prevent and reduce the financial, social, and health-related harms caused by gambling and to improve the degree of channelization of the gambling system.
The goal is clearly expressed in the Programme; new license system will enter into force in Finnish online gambling markets by January 1, 2026 at the latest. The license system will cover online casino games and online betting. Other games, such as lottery, will stay under Veikkaus’ monopoly. Key questions to be solved before introducing the new system concern in particular the supervision of the gambling industry, the prevention of gambling harms, as well as marketing rules. It also has to be borne in mind that any rules and restrictions to market actors must comply with the European Union internal market rules.
As introducing the license system will be based on careful evaluation, we expect soon to see analyses, assessments and research activities concerning the license system and its above-mentioned key questions. Finnish Procurement Lawyers Attorneys are following the renewal of the Finnish gambling market. We will keep the readers of our newsletter up to date as new information becomes available. We are also happy to help with questions concerning opening of Finnish online gambling markets and thereby new business opportunities in Finland.