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In this case, as part of its recent deal with G&M News, the company is sharing exclusive excerpt of “Finland iGaming Industry Primer — Past, Present, and Future (2026–2027 Licensing Transition)” report. Let’s take a closer look at this very insightful document.
NEW LICENSING ARCHITECTURE AND REGULATORY BODIES
With the passage of the new Gambling Act, Finland’s gambling regulatory framework is undergoing a structural overhaul. This section outlines how the licensing process will work, the roles of regulatory bodies, and the compliance architecture that licensed operators must navigate.
Licensing Authority: Until June 30th, 2027, the Finnish National Police Board’s Lottery Administration (which currently oversees Veikkaus and enforces the Lotteries Act) will handle license applications and preparatory oversight of new entrants. During this transition, the Police Board will effectively be evaluating applications for a market that isn’t active yet, which is unusual. They will issue decisions on B2C licenses likely by late 2026 or early 2027, possibly giving operators conditional approval that becomes valid on July 1st, 2027.
On July 1st, 2027, a new independent regulator, referred to in English as the Finnish Gambling Supervisory Authority or Agency, will take over all regulatory duties. The creation of this agency is a significant institutional change. It means that regulation of gambling will no longer sit within a department of the Police but in a specialized body, likely under the Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Finance’s purview. Its exact name and structure are pending; a project under the Ministry of Finance is working on establishing it (covering hiring staff, setting up IT systems for license monitoring, etc.). By all accounts, the new authority will resemble Sweden’s Spelinspektionen or the Danish Gambling Authority (DGA) in function.
The new Authority’s mandate includes:
- Processing license applications (after mid-2027) and renewals.
- Continuous supervision of license holders: auditing operations, ensuring responsible gambling and AML compliance, reviewing required reports (licensees must submit annual service reports and possibly interim data).
- Technical monitoring: the Authority will have the capacity to conduct technical oversight of games and transactions in real-time or near-real-time. This suggests Finland may require integration of operator systems with a central monitoring system. For instance, Denmark uses an online data reporting system (SafeSys) where licensees periodically send game and transaction data. Finland’s law mentions “technical monitoring of games and player account transactions” – details to be determined, but it could involve anything from having read-access to databases to receiving alerts on certain events. This is aimed at both ensuring fair games and detecting suspicious or illegal activity (match-fixing, fraud, etc.).
- Approving game integrity: All gambling operators will need to have their game RNGs, lottery draw equipment, and outcomes certified by approved testing labs. The Authority will set criteria for these third-party assessment bodies (akin to eCOGRA, GLI, etc.). Certification likely needs renewal periodically or when games change. This ensures games are fair and not manipulable, which protects consumers.
- Enforcement: The Authority can investigate and act on breaches of the Gambling Act by licensees (issuing warnings, administrative fines up to a certain percentage of turnover, penalty payments for serious breaches, and ultimately license suspension or revocation for egregious or repeated violations). Certain violations also remain crimes prosecutable by police (e.g. running gambling without a license, or money laundering).
- Illegal market oversight: The Authority inherits the Police Board’s job of tackling unlicensed gambling targeting Finland. As discussed, it can issue prohibitions on illegal offerings or ads and impose conditional fines. It must publicize those decisions, adding transparency to enforcement actions.
- Guidance and secondary regulations: The Authority will likely have power to issue guidelines to licensees (for example, clarifying how to implement self-exclusion, or how to market responsibly within the law’s framework). Some detailed regulation can also be done via Ministry decrees – the Ministry of Interior will issue decrees on running gambling games up to February 2027 as noted and possibly transfer that power to the Authority or Ministry of Finance thereafter. For example, the decree on technical game features will heavily shape product offerings (the Nordia source indicates key parameters will be set later).
License Application Requirements: The Act and forthcoming decrees outline what an operator must submit to get a license. Based on the law and general practice, an applicant must provide:
- Corporate information: proof of incorporation in an allowed jurisdiction. The Act specifies licenses can be granted to any natural or legal person that meets eligibility under the Finnish Enterprise Act. In practice, likely this means the operator must at least have a branch or subsidiary in the European Economic Area (EEA). Many expect Finland to require either a Finnish company or at least a locally registered branch to ensure tax compliance and legal jurisdiction. This will be clarified by the Police Board in their application instructions.
- Business plan and service description: which games the operator intends to offer, through which platforms (web, mobile), and any specific target market within Finland. If an operator seeks to offer new forms of betting like eSports or virtuals, they must ensure it falls under allowed categories.
- Evidence of integrity and competence: details of the company’s owners, directors, and key personnel to undergo fit and proper checks (no criminal backgrounds, experience in running gambling operations, etc.). Past regulatory infractions in other markets might need disclosure. There is a provision that past violations of Finnish gambling law can disqualify an applicant, meaning if a company was openly taking Finnish customers and marketing illegally, the Police Board might reject their application as “not of good repute.” Each case will be considered individually, but it encourages a clean break by any grey operators who want to become white-market.
- Financial stability: operators need to show they have the financial capacity to maintain operations and pay out winnings. This could include providing financial statements, guarantees, or information on corporate structure and financing.
- Detailed compliance plans: Finland will expect to see draft policies or descriptions for how the operator will comply with all obligations. This includes an AML program/policy, a security policy (cybersecurity, data protection measures), a responsible gambling policy (covering how they implement self-exclusion, limits, etc.), and a marketing plan demonstrating adherence to Finnish rules. The Nordia insight specifically notes that operators should be prepared to submit their marketing policies, internal approval processes for ads, and how they’ll monitor marketing compliance. Similarly, an operator might need to outline their game fairness testing approach and internal audit procedures.
- Technical setup information: details about the gambling platform, where servers are located, how data will be accessible to the regulator, and which third-party software providers they use. Given the upcoming B2B license requirement, operators will likely need to list all their critical software suppliers. Pre-2028, using unlicensed (international) suppliers is allowed (since B2B licenses won’t exist yet), but they might still vet those suppliers for integrity and likely ask if they plan to apply in 2027.
- Application fee: The exact fee is to be set by Interior Ministry decree in early 2026. By law it must correspond to the costs of processing the application. In similar markets, application fees range from a few thousand euros to tens of thousands. We anticipate Finland’s might be on the order of €8,000–€20,000 for a B2C license application, but this is speculative. The Act also sets that Veikkaus’s exclusive license involves a separate fee calculated from its revenue (to offset state aid concerns), but that’s not directly relevant to other operators.
- License fees and supervision fees: Besides the one-time application fee, the law establishes an annual supervision fee for all licensees to fund the Authority. This will likely be proportionate to the licensee’s revenue or a fixed bracket fee. Operators must budget for this as a cost of doing business (the intent is to make the regulatory system self-financing by industry). Again, specifics will be in a decree or Authority decision.
The licensing process will involve a thorough review by officials, and possibly consultation with other agencies (for example, police background checks on individuals, or asking the AML enforcement unit for input). By late 2026 or early 2027, we expect the first provisional licenses to be granted, conditional on some requirements like final system testing. Operators will need to pass a certification before launch – demonstrating their games and systems function properly and all safeguards (ID verification, etc.) are integrated.
Interim Period (2026–27): During the transition, Veikkaus remains the sole legal operator. Notably, the Act explicitly bans any new operator from even advertising during this interim period. So, even if a company gets a license in principle in Jan 2027, it cannot start marketing to Finns until July 2027. The rationale is to avoid confusion and a free-for-all before the regime is fully operational. Enforcement authorities will be extra vigilant in 2026/27 to ensure offshore operators don’t ramp up marketing claiming “licenses coming soon”.
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