Rahapelilaki 10/2026 (Gambling Act)
The Act that ends the Veikkaus monopoly and opens a licensed competitive market from 1 July 2027
Last verified: 2026-09-28
The Gambling Act (10/2026), adopted 16 December 2025 and approved 16 January 2026, applies mainly from 1 July 2027. It replaces the Lotteries Act exclusive-rights system with licensing for betting, online casino, online bingo and online slots, while Veikkaus keeps an exclusive licence for lotteries, pools and physical gambling.
Rahapelilaki 10/2026 (Gambling Act)
Overview
The Gambling Act (rahapelilaki, 10/2026) is the centrepiece of Finland's gambling reform. Parliament adopted it, and amendments to 13 other acts including the Lotteries Act, the Lotteries Tax Act, the Income Tax Act and the Criminal Code, on 16 December 2025; the President approved the package on 16 January 2026. The government proposal (HE 16/2025 vp) had been submitted on 20 March 2025 and originally targeted a 1 January 2027 start; the adopted Act instead applies mainly from 1 July 2027, with a limited set of provisions — including the licence-application chapters — already in force from 1 March 2026.
Until 30 June 2027 the existing Lotteries Act (1047/2001) continues to apply, under which Veikkaus Oy holds exclusive rights to run gambling in Mainland Finland. From 1 July 2027, Veikkaus can hold an exclusive licence — for money lotteries, pools, and physical slot machines and casino games — while other qualifying companies can obtain a gambling licence for the newly opened competitive market: betting, online casino games, online money bingo and online slot machines. The Act sets out licence types and duration, player registration and identification, deposit limits and self-exclusion, marketing rules, the supervisory authority's powers, and administrative sanctions.
Adoption and approval dates; provisions in force from 1 March 2026. [1]
Government proposal HE 16/2025 vp: background and planned entry into force. [2]
Which games stay under exclusive rights and which move to the competitive market. [3]
Regulatory timeline, 2001-2027
| Date | Event | Verified against primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Lotteries Act (arpajaislaki, 1047/2001) enters into force, giving Veikkaus, Raha-automaattiyhdistys and Fintoto exclusive rights. | ✓ |
| 2010 | Lotteries Act reform sets the minimum gambling age at 18 for all gambling games. | ✓ |
| 2012 | System moves from formal licences to statutory exclusive rights for the three operators. | ✓ |
| 2017-01-01 | Fintoto, Raha-automaattiyhdistys and Veikkaus merge into a single, wholly state-owned Veikkaus Oy. | ✓ |
| 2022-01-01 | Mandatory identification extended to dispersed slot machines; National Police Board's powers over non-Veikkaus marketing strengthened. | ✓ |
| 2023-01-01 | Payment-traffic block provisions in force: providers must block payments to companies under a marketing-prohibition decision. | ✓ |
| 2023-05 | Mandatory identification extended to lottery coupon games (Lotto, Eurojackpot). | ✓ |
| 2024-01-01 | Mandatory identification extended to scratch cards; earmarked use of Veikkaus proceeds ends, proceeds go to the general state budget. | ✓ |
| 2025-03-20 | Government proposal HE 16/2025 vp on the new Gambling Act submitted to Parliament. | ✓ |
| 2025-12-16 | Parliament adopts the new Gambling Act and related acts. | ✓ |
| 2026-01-16 | President of the Republic approves the new Gambling Act (10/2026) and related acts. | ✓ |
| 2026-03-01 | Gambling licence applications open with the National Police Board; a limited set of Act provisions take effect. | ✓ |
| 2027-07-01 | Gambling Act applies in full; licensed gambling services may begin; supervision passes to the Finnish Supervisory Agency; uniform 22% lottery tax applies. | ✗ |
Key facts
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Verified
Finland's current gambling system rests on the Lotteries Act (arpajaislaki, 1047/2001): the wholly state-owned Veikkaus Oy holds the exclusive right to operate gambling games in Mainland Finland.
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Verified
The Lotteries Act stays in force until 30 June 2027 and the new Gambling Act (rahapelilaki, 10/2026) applies mainly from 1 July 2027; until the end of June 2027 Veikkaus keeps its monopoly and, under the Ministry of the Interior's description, no other company may run or market gambling games.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Oikeusministeriö / Finlex, Edilex
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Verified
Parliament adopted the new Gambling Act and the related acts on 16 December 2025, and the President of the Republic approved them on 16 January 2026.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
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Verified
The government proposal (HE 16/2025 vp) was submitted to Parliament on 20 March 2025 and planned entry into force mainly on 1 January 2027; the Act as adopted applies mainly from 1 July 2027.
Valtioneuvosto / Finlex, Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
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Verified
Gambling companies could submit licence applications from 1 March 2026, ahead of the Act's main entry into force on 1 July 2027; a limited set of the Act's provisions applied from 1 March 2026.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Poliisihallitus (National Police Board), Edilex
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Verified
After the reform Veikkaus can hold an exclusive licence for money lotteries, pools (veikkauspelit), physical slot machines and physical casino games; licences in the competitive market can be granted for betting (including on-track horse betting and virtual betting), online casino games, online money bingo and online slot machines.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Poliisihallitus (National Police Board)
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Verified
The Ministry of the Interior gives the reform's aims as preventing and reducing gambling-related harm and improving the channelling rate, meaning the share of gambling stakes placed with regulated providers supervised by Finnish authorities.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
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Verified
The Ministry states that the link between preventing gambling harm and raising the channelling rate is not unambiguous, and that experts estimate some approaches in the Act may increase gambling harm because marketing of higher-risk games will be permitted (physical slot machines and casino games excepted), marketing will have no volume or timing limits, and no common consumption limits will apply to all licence holders.
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Verified
Veikkaus Oy was formed on 1 January 2017 when Fintoto Oy, Raha-automaattiyhdistys and the former Veikkaus Oy merged into one wholly state-owned gambling company.
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Verified
The draft legislation was notified to the European Commission on 1 November 2024 (TRIS notification 2024/0601/FI); the standstill period ended on 4 March 2025, the Commission made no remarks or detailed opinion, and Malta was the only Member State to submit a detailed opinion.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex, European Commission (TRIS)
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Verified
The Åland-based operator PAF is outside the Veikkaus monopoly system in Mainland Finland; the reform allows PAF to apply for a Finnish licence, and the Ministry says the lottery tax and corporate tax paid by PAF would be remitted to Åland.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex
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Verified
A separate legislative project would allow scratch cards to be given as gifts: a draft government proposal was sent for comments until 13 August 2026 and is planned to go to Parliament in the autumn 2026 session; the amendment to the Gambling Act would take effect on 1 July 2027 and a temporary amendment to the Lotteries Act as soon as possible.
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Verified
The Ministry of the Interior's project term was extended to 28 February 2027 so that the government decrees and Ministry of the Interior decrees on the running of gambling games can be prepared.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
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Verified
In its reply on the reform Parliament included a resolution requiring the Government to monitor developments in the channelling rate and gambling-related harm and to ensure adequate conditions and resources for supervision and for work to prevent gambling harm.
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Verified
The Gambling Act provides for three licence types: an exclusive licence (valid ten years at a time), a gambling licence for the competitive market and a gambling software licence; gambling licences and gambling software licences are granted for at most five years at a time.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex
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Verified
An exclusive licence can only be granted to a limited liability company controlled by the Finnish state (in practice a Veikkaus Group company); gambling licences and gambling software licences can be granted to a natural or legal person referred to in the Enterprise Act that meets the Act's fitness and propriety requirements, and the number of gambling licences is not capped.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Poliisihallitus (National Police Board)
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Verified
Until 30 June 2027 the National Police Board is the competent licensing authority; from 1 July 2027 licensing and supervision under the Gambling Act pass to the new Finnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto).
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Poliisihallitus (National Police Board)
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Verified
Gambling software licence applications can be submitted from 1 July 2027, and the obligation for licence holders to use only software supplied by gambling software licence holders applies from 1 July 2028.
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Verified
The exclusive licence holder pays the state a fee whose amount the Government sets on the basis of its gambling proceeds, and the exclusive licence stays valid only while the fee is paid; all licence holders also pay an annual supervision fee to cover the supervisory authority's costs.
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Verified
Under the Gambling Act the minimum age for gambling remains 18, and all gambling will require player registration and identification, including verification of age.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex
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Verified
Licence holders must run gambling so as to minimise gambling harm, including preventing excessive gambling through ongoing monitoring of gambling behaviour; they must let players review funds and transactions in their player account for the past year, provide a function for assessing gambling behaviour, and keep a written self-supervision plan.
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Verified
A self-exclusion register will let a player exclude themselves from all licensed gambling games on a single platform; companies must also allow exclusion from specific games or game categories, a quick-stop feature will interrupt all gambling, and marketing may not be directed at people in the register.
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Verified
The Government can issue a decree setting daily, monthly and annual maximum loss limits per gambling company, and the Ministry of the Interior can issue lower-level rules on the characteristics of gambling games to prevent harm; the Ministry's Q&A does not state that such loss limits have been adopted.
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Verified
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) will have access to pseudonymised gambling data to prevent and reduce harm, and harm-prevention work in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health's branch will be funded from the state Budget, with discretionary government grants available.
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Verified
Under the current framework all Veikkaus gambling is played identified: mandatory identification applied to dispersed slot machines from 1 January 2022, to lottery coupon games (such as Lotto and Eurojackpot) from May 2023 and to scratch cards from the start of 2024.
Valtioneuvosto / Finlex, Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
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Verified
Under the current framework the minimum age for all gambling is 18, set in the 2010 Lotteries Act reform, and gambling may not be sold to under-18s.
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Verified
Under the current Lotteries Act only Veikkaus may market gambling in Mainland Finland; marketing by other operators aimed at Mainland Finland is prohibited, including direct marketing, and a foreign gambling licence, a foreign country-code domain, or servers located abroad do not permit marketing in Mainland Finland.
Poliisihallitus (National Police Board), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex
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Verified
The Lotteries Act defines marketing broadly as advertising, indirect advertising and other sales promotion, so examples such as a hashtag referring to a gambling company, showing a gambling site's logo or commercial cooperation with a gambling company can count as prohibited marketing.
Valtioneuvosto / Finlex, Poliisihallitus (National Police Board)
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Verified
From 1 July 2027 marketing by licensed companies is permitted within limits: it must be moderate in volume, scope, visibility and repetition, must not target minors or other vulnerable persons, and must always state the age limit and where to get information on gambling management tools and help for problem gambling.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
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Verified
Prohibited marketing includes portraying gambling as desirable or overly positive, as an everyday activity, as a solution to financial problems or an alternative to earning a living, or as harmless or risk-free; licence holders may provide bonus play money and similar extras only to a limited extent during the customer relationship, direct marketing needs express consent, and telemarketing is always prohibited.
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Verified
On social media licence holders may market gambling only on their own websites and accounts and not interactively, which excludes commercial collaboration with influencers on the influencers' own accounts; outdoor marketing of higher-risk games such as online casinos and betting is prohibited (brand marketing is allowed but not near schools), and sponsorship is permitted but may not promote gambling games.
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Verified
Under the reform the lottery tax paid by gambling companies is raised from the current 12% to a uniform 22%, and the Ministry of the Interior and the government proposal both describe 22% as the single rate for gambling operations in Finland.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex, Oikeusministeriö / Finlex
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Verified
Under current law playing at gambling sites outside the Veikkaus system is not prohibited: the Lotteries Act restricts the supply and marketing of gambling in Mainland Finland, and the Ministry states that the reform does not prohibit gambling outside the licensing system either.
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Verified
Unlawful operation and marketing of gambling is a criminal offence (gambling offence, rahapelirikos) under the Criminal Code, punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to two years, according to the National Police Board.
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Verified
Since the start of 2023 the National Police Board can impose payment-traffic blocks on companies that received a prohibition decision on gambling marketing contrary to the Lotteries Act; payment service providers must block payments (such as transfers, card payments and direct debits) to the companies on the Board's list, and the Board can prohibit a provider from executing gambling payments, backed by a conditional fine.
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Verified
From 1 July 2027 the supervisory authority can impose administrative fines (rikemaksu) and penalty payments (seuraamusmaksu) on licence holders, withdraw a licence, ban the running or marketing of gambling games with a conditional fine, and order removal of unlawful online content or of a domain name from the domain-name register; it must publish decisions on injunctions, fines, penalty payments and licence withdrawals.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Valtioneuvosto / Finlex
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Verified
The Ministry states that blocking of network traffic and of payment transactions was not proposed in the reform, that the functioning of the new market will be monitored and the need for such provisions assessed after the Gambling Act enters into force, and that the Government of Åland has said such blocking may be problematic under the Act on the Autonomy of Åland.
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Verified
The supervisory authority's tools include technical monitoring of games and player-account transactions, a broad right of access to information and inspection, and annual reports from licence holders; licence holders must have their game systems and draw methods audited by a third-party assessment body, and gambling services are subject to money-laundering legislation.
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Verified
The National Police Board's Gambling Administration supervises gambling under sections 42 and 43 of the Lotteries Act, and its supervision of gambling marketing has largely concentrated on countering marketing by companies outside the exclusive-right system.
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Verified
The government proposal comprised a new Gambling Act, amendments to 13 other acts (including the Lotteries Act, the Lotteries Tax Act, the Income Tax Act and the Criminal Code) and the repeal of provisions in two acts; the Lotteries Act amendment was published as Act 11/2026 and the Lotteries Tax Act amendment as Act 14/2026.
Valtioneuvosto / Finlex, Oikeusministeriö / Finlex, Oikeusministeriö / Finlex
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Verified
The Gambling Act regulates gambling operation and its supervision: licensing requirements and procedure, player registration and identity verification, the age limit, player accounts, self-exclusion and gambling limits, marketing and sponsorship, the supervisory authority's powers and supervision fees, administrative sanctions, and the role of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and THL in monitoring gambling harm.
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Verified
Lotteries Act reforms in effect before the current reform include the 2010 reform (18-year minimum age for all gambling; rules on permitted marketing), the 2012 shift from a formal licensing system to statutory exclusive rights for Fintoto, Raha-automaattiyhdistys and Veikkaus, the reform in force from 1 January 2022 (stronger Board powers over marketing by companies outside the system), and the change in force from 1 January 2024 that ended earmarked uses of Veikkaus proceeds so that they go into the general state budget.
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Verified
In June 2026 the Ministry of the Interior sent four draft decrees under the Gambling Act for comments (deadline 5 August 2026): a draft government decree on the running of gambling by the exclusive licence holder and three draft Ministry of the Interior decrees on the exclusive licence holder's rules of play, on gambling by licence holders in the competitive market, and on when the period for claiming winnings starts.
Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior), Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)
Sources
- Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)Primary source — Reform of the gambling system (project page) — https://intermin.fi/en/projects/reform-of-the-gambling
- Valtioneuvosto / FinlexPrimary source — HE 16/2025 vp: Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle uutta rahapelijärjestelmää koskevaksi lainsäädännöksi — https://data.finlex.fi/api/media/government-proposal/904588/mainPdf/main.pdf
- Sisäministeriö (Ministry of the Interior)Primary source — Questions and answers on gambling system reform — https://intermin.fi/en/projects/reform-of-the-gambling/questions-and-answers