For decades, Finland appeared to be one of Europe’s least accessible gambling markets. The state-owned Veikkaus held the exclusive right to provide and market most gambling services, while international operators remained outside the official system.
That description was legally accurate, but commercially incomplete. Finnish consumers were already using international online casinos and betting sites in considerable numbers. The monopoly existed on paper, yet competition had quietly developed around it through the digital market.
Finland is now preparing to replace part of that monopoly with a licensing system. International operators have been able to submit licence applications since March 2026, while regulated online casino and betting services are scheduled to launch on 1 July 2027. Veikkaus will retain exclusive control over areas including lotteries, scratch cards, physical slot machines and land-based casino games. This exact combination makes Finland unusually interesting.
A monopoly that was never completely closed
Finland’s existing gambling system was built around a simple principle: gambling should be organised by a state-controlled operator so that the activity can be supervised and its proceeds directed to society.
In practice, however, the growth of online gambling made the borders of the monopoly increasingly difficult to maintain. International casinos did not need physical premises in Helsinki or Tampere to reach Finnish customers. They could provide Finnish-language websites, local payment options and mobile games from elsewhere in Europe.
The scale of this parallel market is no longer trivial. Veikkaus estimated that the total Finnish gambling market generated approximately €1.51 billion in gross gaming revenue during 2024. The digital portion alone was worth around €1.13 billion, with operators other than Veikkaus accounting for slightly more than €550 million. Veikkaus therefore controlled only about half of Finland’s digital gambling market, despite holding the country’s legal monopoly.
That is the central contradiction behind the reform. Finland did not decide to introduce licences because international competition might eventually arrive. It introduced licences because the competition was already there and a substantial amount of gambling was taking place beyond the reach of Finnish supervision.
Finnish consumers are already comfortable gambling online
According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, 70% of Finns aged 15–74 had gambled during 2023. Around 44% had gambled online, while 7% had used online gambling platforms outside Veikkaus. That latter group represented approximately 251,000 people.
Veikkaus itself has also become increasingly dependent on digital gambling. In 2024, 60.2% of the company’s gross gaming revenue came from digital channels, compared with 39.8% from physical points of sale. Its digital share increased by more than five percentage points in a single year.
Finland is not a market where operators must first persuade consumers to abandon cash, visit an online casino or trust remote payments. A sizeable audience already knows how online gambling works. Many customers have used international sites for years and have formed expectations around mobile usability, payment speed, game selection and account verification.
This makes Finland commercially attractive, but it also makes the market demanding, as clarifies Top10nettikasino. An operator entering under the new licence will not be competing only against Veikkaus. It will be competing against international brands that Finnish customers may already recognise.
The reform creates a hybrid system rather than a completely open market
While in theory, the gambling monopoly is ending, it’s actually just part of the whole story.
The competitive licence system will cover online casino games, online slot machines, betting and online money bingo. Veikkaus will continue to hold exclusive rights over lotteries, scratch cards, physical slot machines and land-based casino games.
Finland is therefore building a hybrid market. The parts of the industry that have been most affected by international digital competition will be opened, while several traditional products will remain under state control.
Licence applications opened on 1 March 2026, but approved operators must wait until 1 July 2027 before launching and marketing regulated services. Until the end of June 2027, Veikkaus remains the only company permitted to provide or advertise gambling services under Finnish supervision.
Finland is becoming Europe’s gambling-market laboratory
Finland is interesting not because it is Europe’s largest gambling market, but because it sits at the centre of several questions facing the wider industry.
Can a long-standing monopoly be converted into a competitive digital market without losing public control? Can strict responsible-gambling measures coexist with commercially attractive products? Can advertising be permitted without allowing the market to become saturated? At the moment, many industry stakeholders are eagerly waiting for changes to take place, since many of these questions can’t be solved before the new system takes full effect.
What is already clear is that Finland cannot be treated as an empty territory waiting for foreign operators. It is a sophisticated online gambling market with existing consumer habits, significant international competition and unusually high expectations around regulation.
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