Finnish Gambling Law Reform Continues as Planned

In September 2023, Antti Koivula of Legal Gaming delved into the reasons behind the introduction of a licensing system in Finland in his article titled “Finland’s Transition to a Gambling Licensing System”, published in Chambers’ Expert Focus. This update serves as a continuation of that article, discussing the progress of the new gambling law in Finland, and the expected contentious issues in the preparation of the regulation.

The Finnish government remains committed to the new gambling law and, as outlined in the government programme, a new licensing system is scheduled to be introduced by 1 January 2026 at the latest. Efforts to uphold this objective persist, with the working group continuing its endeavours to introduce the first draft of the new law in summer 2024. The working group is currently preparing the major outlines of the reform, which will then be brought to the attention of the political steering group for consideration.

It must be noted that adhering to the original deadline for the law coming into force does not mean that the first licensed entities will be operating in the market in early 2026. It also remains to be seen whether the licensing window will open immediately after the new law comes into force. Realistically, a transition period of some time is to be expected before the first licensed entities are seen on the Finnish market.

The key to the new system’s success lies in striking a careful balance: making the licensing conditions attractive to encourage business growth and increase the channelisation rate, while also implementing potential marketing restrictions and responsible gambling measures to prevent issues with gambling addiction. Due to this, one of the most difficult issues related to the reform in Finland undoubtedly concerns marketing and its regulation.

While it can be expected that gambling marketing will be restricted and subject to limitations to accommodate the various interests involved, the extent of these restrictions and what will be allowed in terms of marketing remains uncertain.

The discussion is likely to flow within the framework of conceptualising bonus promotion and brand advertising. For instance, the monopoly operator, Veikkaus, is currently not permitted to market fast-paced online slot games. So, allowing brand advertising for these types of games through different channels would, for example, entail a significant change compared to the current regulation on gambling marketing.

The same concerns affect marketing for online slot games, which Veikkaus is currently not allowed to carry out. A third question on everyone’s minds is sponsorship and whether it will be allowed by gambling companies in the future, and to what extent. As can be seen from these examples, there are many difficult questions to address and boundaries to define as the working group deliberates on marketing issues.