Finland's new gambling law: what operators need to sort out before 1 July 2027
Finland's licensed iGaming market opens on 1 July 2027. Here's what the new Gambling Act asks of your payment setup, from segregated player funds to deposit limits and five-year records.
Finland's licensed gambling market opens on 1 July 2027, when the new Finnish Gambling Act (Rahapelilaki 10/2026) comes fully into force and Veikkaus loses its online monopoly. By 22 September 2026, 75 companies had applied for a Finland gambling license and none had been approved.For finance and payments teams, the Act also sets hard rules on where player money sits, how deposits are capped, how quickly balances go back to players and how every transaction is recorded. This guide covers what changes, who is applying, and what your payment setup needs before launch.
What changes in Finland and when
Finland is replacing its state gambling monopoly with a licensing system: online betting and casino open to licensed operators on 1 July 2027, while Veikkaus keeps lotteries and land-based games.The Act was signed on 16 January 2026 and published on 20 January 2026. Its licensing chapters took effect on 1 March 2026, which is when the National Police Board started accepting applications. The rest of the Act, including every rule on player accounts and payments, applies from 1 July 2027.The regulator changes on the same day. The Police Board licenses and supervises gambling until 30 June 2027. From 1 July 2027, the new Finnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto) takes over licensing, supervision and enforcement.The split between open and reserved games, as summarised by Borenius:)
Who is applying
Seventy-five companies had applied for a Finnish gambling licence by 22 September 2026, and the Police Board had not yet decided on any of them, according to the Board's figures.Filings came in waves. The Board's senior adviser Sanna Kuusela put March 2026 at 24 applications and May at 23. Most applicants haven't been named publicly; Veikkaus (through two new subsidiaries) and Unibet are among those confirmed.Each application costs EUR 29,000, payable before processing and not refunded if the licence is refused. The Board's target processing time is six to eight months, and there is no closing date for applications.The arithmetic matters for launch planning. A file submitted in November 2026 would, on that timeline, be decided between May and July 2027. Your banking, segregation and reporting setup has to be ready while the application is still pending, not after the decision lands. The application itself must already describe your financial position and your anti-money laundering procedures (section 11).The payment rules inside the Act
The Finnish Gambling Act puts seven obligations directly on how a licensee holds, receives and returns player money. These rules sit in the statute itself rather than in later guidance, so each one is a condition the supervisor can check and enforce from the first day of licensed play.Four rules carry most of the weight. Player funds must sit apart from the operator's own money, and every player must be told at sign-up how that money is protected if the operator fails (s.22(4)). Every player sets daily and monthly limits on transfers into their account before the first deposit, and any increase only takes effect the next day or month (s.30). Gambling on credit is banned outright (s.25), and every transaction must be kept for five years in a tamper-proof form the supervisor can pull through its own interface (s.45).For gambling companies this changes where the compliance work sits. It moves out of policy documents and into the payment stack: the account structure, the deposit flow, the payout engine and the ledger all have to prove the rules are met, transaction by transaction. An operator that can't show where player money is, or why a deposit was accepted, puts its licence at risk. The most serious breaches carry penalty payments of up to 4% of the previous year's turnover, capped at EUR 5 million (Borenius).The table below paraphrases the Act's text in plain language; it is a reading aid, not legal advice.)
Two pieces are still missing. Section 22(5) lets the Ministry of the Interior issue a decree with more detail on player accounts, and section 45(4) lets the supervisor set technical rules for record delivery. We found no published version of either when we checked in early October 2026, so build in room to adjust.
Four challenges for operators
The hardest part of entering Finland for most operators will be the banking underneath the licence: an account that stays open, payouts that scale, segregation you can evidence and records a new supervisor will accept.1. Getting and keeping a EUR accountGambling operators have long reported being turned away by account providers as a category. The European Banking Authority's 2022 opinion on de-risking (EBA/Op/2022/01) records national supervisors receiving regular complaints from gambling operators hit by decisions applied to whole categories of customers. A Finnish launch adds a EUR account that has to support segregated player funds, so plan for a primary and a backup provider.2. Payouts at volumeSection 23 requires closed accounts to be paid out without delay and without a closing fee. Day to day, Finnish players will compare withdrawal speed across a new field of licensed brands. Batch payouts over SEPA Instant keep that manageable when withdrawals run into the thousands.3. Documenting where player money sitsSection 22(4) asks you to keep player funds apart from your own and to explain to every player how those funds are protected on insolvency. That explanation is only as good as the account structure behind it, and the decree under section 22(5) may add requirements.4. Records and reconciliation for a new supervisorSection 45 requires five years of tamper-proof transaction records, delivered through the supervisor's interface. The supervisor itself only takes over on 1 July 2027, so expect its technical rules to arrive close to launch.The margin squeezeThese costs land on a tight margin. Licensed operators pay 22% lottery tax on gaming margin (Finnish Tax Administration). They also pay an annual supervision fee under section 70, from EUR 4,000 for gaming margin under EUR 100,000 to EUR 434,000 above EUR 50 million, with a EUR 10,000 base fee in the first year. And section 51 lists the only marketing channels allowed; affiliate marketing isn't among them. Every euro lost to payment friction or failed payouts comes out of what's left.How Narvi helps
Narvi gives operators, platforms and affiliates a dedicated business account in their own name, with SEPA, SWIFT and API access, from a Finnish e-money institution that already works with iGaming companies.Narvi Payments Oy Ab is an electronic money institution (EMI) authorised by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) and based in Helsinki, with its licence passported across the EU. See the full iGaming account offer.For operatorsA dedicated IBAN in your company's name, with no omnibus pooling, gives you an account structure you can describe to players and the supervisor when you set up player-fund segregation. SEPA Instant and bulk payouts handle player withdrawals in batches, and the API feeds payment data into your reconciliation and reporting.For platforms and game providersSettle with operators through one account and connect payments to your platform over the API instead of manual transfers. You're onboarded as what you are, a B2B supplier to iGaming, not as an operator.For affiliatesCollect commissions from every operator into one IBAN, and use SWIFT for operators outside the EEA. You won't be asked for a gambling licence you don't hold.Fees depend on your risk profile, industry and country of incorporation; see our pricing for a general indication.
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Frequently Asked Questions
On 1 July 2027. That is when the Gambling Act (10/2026) enters fully into force and licensed operators can start offering online betting, casino and bingo to players in Finland. Operating requires a licence that is already in force on that date.
The application fee is EUR 29,000, paid before processing and charged whatever the outcome. Licensees then pay an annual supervision fee of EUR 4,000 to EUR 434,000 depending on gaming margin, plus 22% lottery tax on gaming margin.
The Act does not list crypto as a payment method for licensees. Section 75(3) brings games played with or paying out crypto-assets under the same prohibitions as other gambling, and section 30 frames deposits as transfers from the player's bank account. Operators planning any crypto flows should get a legal opinion first.
No. Section 51 lists every permitted marketing channel, and affiliate and influencer marketing are not among them. Operators can market through their own websites, TV, radio, print, events and branded search keywords, within the Act's limits on volume and content.
The Finnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto). It takes over licensing and supervision from the National Police Board on 1 July 2027, along with the Board's gambling registers and records.
Last updated: 9 October 2026. Narvi Payments Oy Ab is an authorised Electronic Money Institution licensed by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA), registration number 3190214-6.DisclaimerThis publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, or other professional advice from Narvi Payments Oy Ab or its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.
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Narvi Payments Oy Ab is an Authorized Electronic Money Institution (EMI). Narvi’s EMI license is granted by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN FSA) with the registration number 3190214-6. Narvi’s license is passportised to all European Union countries.
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