Finland grants first 18 gambling licences under new Gambling Act, with 63 applications still pending
Finland's National Police Board has granted the first 18 operating licences under the country's new Gambling Act, and said on October 29 that 63 further applications are still being processed. Licence holders may start offering and marketing gambling no earlier than July 1, 2027, when Veikkaus's exclusive rights over online gambling end.
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Overview
- Finland's National Police Board (Poliisihallitus) said on October 29 that it has granted 18 gambling operating licences under the new Gambling Act.
- The board said 63 more applications are being processed in the order they arrived, at an estimated six to eight months each.
- Licence holders can start offering and marketing gambling no earlier than July 1, 2027, the board said.
What the National Police Board said
The licences allow holders to offer games such as sports betting and online casino, the board said in a statement. It publishes the names of licence holders and their licence numbers on the police website and said the list will be updated as new licences are granted.
The published list runs from RALU/2027/L101 to RALU/2027/L118. The 18 holders are Cloudberry Ent Limited, KuuFlip Limited, Nivei Ursi Limited, RocketLily Ent Limited, SixthSpin Limited, YTBlue Limited, Granturo Finland Ltd, Hippos ATG Oy, Skill On Net Ltd, Sunflower Gaming Limited, SuomiVeto Oy, Roi Roger Limited, UnionJack Limited, Buccone Trading Limited, Benelongs Ltd, Stare Straight Ltd, Pot Luck Club Ltd and Amber Entertainment Finland Ltd.
According to Finnish daily Iltalehti, six of the 18 applicant companies belong to Sweden's ComeOn Group, while Malta-based Blixx Gaming and Nordplay Group each hold three. Hippos ATG is part-owned by Suomen Hippos, the umbrella body for Finnish harness racing, and by Swedish operator ATG, the paper reported.
"Most of the applicants are foreign companies," said Juho Puisto, a senior inspector in the board's Lotteries Administration. He said foreign applicants must supply the required documents from authorities themselves, and that a single application can involve reviewing several hundred pages. Requests for supplementary information are typically needed and affect processing times, he said.
Timeline to the July 2027 opening
Applications have been open since March 2026, and there is no closing date, so more may still arrive, the board said. It will remain the licensing and supervisory authority until the end of June 2027. From July 1, 2027, the new Finnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto) takes over.
The new Gambling Act ends Veikkaus's exclusive rights to online betting and online casino games in mainland Finland from that date. Finland's market will open in a region where online play already makes up a large share of spending; EGBA figures put online at 39% of European gross gaming revenue in 2025.
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Patricia Cruz aims to bring a different perspective to familiar industry conversations. Through in-depth articles and thematic reports at AskSpinner News, Patricia draws attention to details worth questioning and connections that can be overlooked, using the news as a starting point for a closer look at the business of iGaming.
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