Finland names first 12 licensees, no rejections yet

• Finland’s National Police Board has granted 12 gambling licences from 79 applications.
• No rejections have been recorded, leaving 67 applications outstanding.
• State operator Veikkaus is not yet among the approved online licensees.

Finland’s National Police Board has granted 12 licences for the country’s new online gambling market from 79 applications received by 26 October, with no rejections recorded.

The list is the regulator’s first official confirmation of who will be able to operate when Finland’s competitive online betting and casino market opens on 1 July 2027.

Who made the cut

The board released the figures in response to an information request from iGaming Business. Until then, the market only knew the names that operators chose to announce themselves.

The approved companies are Hippos ATG Oy, Sunflower Gaming Limited, Granturo Finland Ltd, Skill On Net Ltd, SuomiVeto Oy, Cloudberry Ent Limited, SixthSpin Limited, KuuFlip Limited, RocketLily Ent Limited, Nivei Ursi Limited, YTBlue Limited and Buccone Trading Limited.

Granturo Finland appears on the list as part of Wildz Group, which was first to claim a licence on 15 October. The Malta-based group previously faced regulatory scrutiny in Finland. In 2025, the board said it was considering a marketing ban over Wildz promotions aimed at Finnish players.

Sam Brown, CEO, Wildz Group, said:

“Receiving the amazing news of being the first operator to receive a licence in Finland is a welcome reward for all the efforts of the team in the application process. We’re excited about this milestone and what it represents for the future of Wildz Group.”

Racing money joins in

Hippos ATG followed on 19 October with its own announcement. The company is a joint venture between Swedish operator ATG and Finnish trotting association Suomen Hippos, which each hold a 50% stake.

Profits will be split 60% to Suomen Hippos and 40% to ATG, the company said. The Finnish share is earmarked for domestic horse racing and breeding. The venture plans to trade under the ATG brand, iGaming Business reported.

Mikael Bäcke, CEO of Hippos ATG, said:

“We have worked hard to build a completely new company in Finland and its operating models from the very beginning to meet the requirements of the new Finnish legislation.”

A queue of 67

Applications opened on 1 March 2026. The board had 50 applications on file by June, a figure that reached 75 by 22 September.

Four more have arrived since. With no rejections recorded, 67 applications remain outstanding. One company can file for several licence types, so the total does not equal 79 separate operators. LeoVegas, for one, has said publicly that it is pursuing more than one licence.

Each application costs €29,000, charged whether the decision is positive or negative. The board has extended its target processing time to six to eight months and warns that decisions may take longer.

Hippos ATG filed on 2 March, one day after the window opened, and received its decision in October.

Veikkaus left waiting

Veikkaus has applied to compete in the open online market, but its licence is not among the first 12. Under the new Gambling Act, it keeps exclusive rights to lotteries, scratchcards and land-based slots and casino games.

The group reported €936.3m in actual sales revenue for 2025 and a profit of €447.2m, according to its annual report. 61% of its Finnish gambling GGR came from digital channels, and it counted around 2.7 million registered customers.

iGaming Business argues that brand recognition and that database could give the incumbent an early advantage. The Act allows Veikkaus to compete through a separate company, provided its monopoly and competitive businesses are kept apart within the group, the Ministry of the Interior says.

The state operator is preparing for online competition. In May, it named Ilkka Kosola as chief financial officer.

A late convert

Finland is one of the last European countries to give up its gambling monopoly. Neighbouring Sweden fully liberalised its market in 2019.

President Alexander Stubb signed the new Gambling Act into law on 16 January 2026, one month after Parliament approved it with 158 votes in favour. The Act takes full effect on 1 July 2027.

The stakes are high. Finland’s gross gaming revenue reached an estimated €1.9bn in 2026, with around 81% from online channels, iGaming Business reported, citing H2 Gambling Capital.

The reform’s stated aim is to reduce gambling harm and raise the channelling rate, meaning the share of play that takes place within the regulated system. The Ministry of the Interior says many companies currently target Finland from outside national regulation and taxation.

The state also has money at stake. Preliminary Ministry of Finance estimates put state income under the new system at €570m to €760m a year. That compares with roughly €700m a year from Veikkaus proceeds and lottery tax today.

Tight rules, open doors

The reform raises the lottery tax on gambling from 12% to 22%, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Every licensed company established in Finland will also be liable for corporate tax.

Marketing will be allowed, but within limits. Operators may only post on their own social media accounts, without interacting with consumers, and influencer collaborations are ruled out. Bonus play money and free tickets are tightly restricted during the customer relationship, and most other free play, discounts and combination offers are prohibited.

Outdoor marketing of higher-risk products such as online casino and betting is prohibited. Brand marketing is permitted, but not near schools.

Sports sponsorship is allowed, provided sponsorships do not promote specific games. At events, licensed operators may market both their brand and their games at the venue.

Every player must verify their identity before gambling, and the age limit stays at 18. Players can exclude themselves from all licensed sites through a single national register, and must set daily and monthly limits on funds transferred into their gambling account.

Gambling licences run for up to five years. Veikkaus’s exclusive licence runs for ten years.

Paperwork before players

A licence alone does not open the doors. Operators must also complete required audits and an integration project connecting them to the supervisor’s monitoring system before going live, the board says.

On 1 July 2027, the Finnish Supervisory Agency takes over licensing and supervision. Game software suppliers can apply for their own licences from the same date, and operators may only use licensed software from 1 July 2028.

Every applicant must also pass the Act’s fitness and propriety test, according to the Ministry of the Interior. That bar will matter for the 67 still waiting, and for any operator still targeting Finnish players without a licence.

Holding a licence is only the first step. Winning players back from offshore sites is the harder test, and Nordic lawyers argue that enforcement alone will not deliver it.