The National Police Board of Finland has confirmed significant interest in the country’s upcoming commercial iGaming market as it prepares to step away from the monopoly system.
Poliisi stated that its gambling administration has received 50 licence applications so far, as the market continues its preparations to launch on 1 July 2027.
Before any potential licence holder is considered, they must pay a €29,000 processing fee for their application. The National Police Board may also request additional information if necessary, such as a company’s financial situation.
Poliisi added that it will take approximately six months to process applications, but there is no deadline for when applications need to be submitted, as the process is continuous.
Juha Katainen, Senior Adviser at the National Police Board, noted: “The reliability and suitability of the applicants will be evaluated on the basis of documents, such as register extracts, certificates and various reports, submitted by the applicant.
“The complexity of processing and evaluating applications is affected by the fact that the majority of applicants are foreign.”
Poliisi also advises applicants to avoid contacting them requesting updates about their application, as this takes time away from the processing stage.
Once Finland’s iGaming market opens up next year, commercially licensed operators will be able to offer sports betting, online casino games, online slots and online money bingo in the country.
However, state-owned operator Veikkaus will retain exclusive control over Lotto, Eurojackpot and physical slot machines. However, the operator is backing market liberalisation and fair competition between operators to help combat the rising influence of the black market.
Commercial operators that have received a licence by 1 July next year will be able to launch when the market goes live. At which point, the responsibility of supervision and licence application evaluation of the Finnish iGaming market will transfer hands from the National Police Board to the Finnish Supervisory Agency.
Ironing out creases
Last month, during a Gaming in Finland webinar, Nordic Legal’s Head of the Finland Office, Pekka Ilmivalta, mentioned that operators are waiting for guidelines on several topics, such as marketing and responsible gambling, but that they are continuing to work on other areas of business once they have submitted an application for a licence.
Ilmivalta stated: “Operators are preparing for the application process and submitting the applications, but not everything is ready when the application has been submitted, or even if the licence has been granted. There are lots of things to do.
“There are lots of policies and rules to be drafted, even afterwards. There’s legal work after that, but also marketing guidelines and responsible gambling guidelines. We are expecting from the regulators some advice, some guidance, probably in Q1 2027, but let’s see where it goes. There’s still a lot to do.
“On the other hand, there’s a lot of other things to consider and to prepare to be ready in 13 months or so. From our side, we would like to remind stakeholders that there’s always a possibility to provide questions to the National Police Board, to the regulator. We will do that for some of our clients, but there’s always a possibility to get clarifications if anything is unclear.”
Earlier this year, Jon Hautamäki and Niko Hannolainen of Nordic Law provided iGaming Expert with an in-depth regulation and direction analysis of the Finnish iGaming market, covering duty of care, marketing, technical standards, software licensing and AML, as well as what’s to come next.
