On July 3, 2024, the Finnish Ministry of Interior submitted a new The draft gambling bill aims to end Veikkaus Oy’s monopoly on gambling, online slots and casino games and promote competition in the market by introducing a licensing system. The proposal is part of the Finnish government reforms.
Currently, Veikkaus Oy has the exclusive rights to offer gambling games in Finland . However, a large number of online gambling activities are conducted outside this monopoly system, and companies operate these activities without national supervision and supervision.
Therefore, the new legislation aims to bring gambling companies to Finland by allowing them to Regulators apply for licenses to regulate market disruptions to reduce gambling-related harm and channel public demand into a regulated framework.
According to the draft, certain games will retain exclusive licenses, such as Veikkaus Oy's monopoly in vertical areas such as lottery games and scratch cards will continue to exist. The new competitive market and Veikkaus Oy's monopoly operations will be managed by different entities within the same group. The government will decide annually the compensation to be paid to Veikkaus Oy for the exclusive license.
In addition, the draft legislation also involves significant changes to the supervision and regulation of gambling. reform. A new Finnish regulator will take over responsibilities from the National Police Council, gaining broad enforcement powers including levying fines, revoking licenses and preventing unlicensed gambling through network blocking and payment blocking.
The bill also introduces strict regulations on the advertising and marketing of gambling games , to prevent targeted marketing to minors or vulnerable groups. As part of gambling safety measures, the bill would also establish a self-limiting gambling register that would require gamblers to be registered and identified.
The changes proposed in the bill will be carried out through a phased implementation plan, and it is expected that Gambling license applications will be accepted from early 2026, with actual licensed operations likely to begin in early 2027.
