Finland’s government approved a decree on 27 February allocating €1.5m in state grants to fund gambling harm prevention, education, and treatment services, with the measure taking effect on 1 March 2026 — the same day the B2C operator licensing window opens under the country’s new multi-licensing framework.
Funding Structure and Scope
Under the new system, responsibility for financing gambling harm support shifts away from state monopoly Veikkaus and onto the government directly. The decree confirmed that the state budget allocation will cover the ongoing operation of electronic and anonymous support services, including a national helpline. Further state grants will fund the expansion of regional gambling harm services and independent scientific research into gambling-related harm.
The structural shift reflects a deliberate policy choice: as Finland moves from a monopoly model to a competitive licensing market, the government has chosen to ring-fence harm funding within the state budget rather than link it to monopoly revenues that will diminish as Veikkaus loses its exclusive rights over online casino games, sports betting, and online slots.
Reform Timeline
Finland’s Parliament approved the new Gambling Act on 16 December 2025 by a margin of 158–9 MPs, and the President approved the legislation on 16 January 2026. The Act ends Veikkaus’ decades-long monopoly over online gambling, bringing Finland in line with Sweden, Denmark, and other Nordic markets that shifted to licensing models in earlier waves of European reform.
From 1 March 2026, operators can apply for B2C licences through the National Police Board, which retains supervisory responsibility until 30 June 2027. A newly established Licensing and Supervision Authority assumes full regulatory control on 1 July 2027, the date licensed operators may begin serving Finnish players. B2B supplier licensing follows a separate timeline, opening in 2027 with full compliance required from licensed B2C operators by 2028.
Products transitioning to the competitive market include fixed-odds betting, pari-mutuel betting, online casino games, online e-bingo, and online slots. Veikkaus retains exclusive rights over lotteries, scratch cards, and land-based slot machines and casino games. The state-owned operator may also apply for licences to compete in the newly opened segments.
Player Protection Framework
The Gambling Act mandates robust player protection tools across all licence holders. Players must set deposit limits before accessing licensed games. Additional limits — including daily, monthly, and annual loss caps — may be imposed through government decree. Licence holders must also operate a centralised self-exclusion system covering all operators, and must allow players to self-exclude from specific game categories.
Industry stakeholders have already begun engaging with the detail of these obligations. Earlier in February, SkillOnNet and Wildz Group submitted responses to a consultation on Finland’s proposed cross-operator loss limit register, arguing against a single shared cap that would apply across all licensed operators simultaneously.
Gambling tax will be levied at 22% of GGR, applying equally to Veikkaus and private licence holders. Welcome bonuses are prohibited. Retention bonuses are permitted within tightly defined parameters, and loyalty schemes linked to volume of play or deposit size are banned.
Channelisation Pressure
The harm funding decree lands against a backdrop of sustained channelisation pressure. Finnish players have increasingly migrated to offshore operators over recent years, reducing the effectiveness of the monopoly model and diminishing its regulatory reach. The government’s stated objective for the reform is to improve the channelisation rate — the share of gambling activity taking place within the regulated, supervised system — while maintaining strong harm controls.
The licensing window’s opening on 1 March begins a 16-month application process before the competitive market goes live. Industry estimates suggest between 30 and 50 operators could enter the market, making Finland one of the more consequential European market openings of the current reform cycle. As the Finnish Parliament’s approval of the Gambling Act confirmed, the country’s approach prioritises channelling demand toward licensed services while keeping harm prevention obligations embedded in the statutory framework from day one.
The €1.5m harm support allocation is modest relative to the scale of the market transition underway, but the structural mechanism — state budget funding rather than monopoly-derived revenue — is designed to remain stable regardless of how competitive dynamics reshape Veikkaus’ revenue position after 2027.
Source: Finnish Government
