Finland grants 12 online gambling licenses from 79 applications as Veikkaus still waits

Finland's National Police Board has granted 12 online gambling licenses and rejected none of the 79 applications it had received as of Oct. 26. The count is the regulator's first official confirmation of approvals for the market that opens on July 1, 2027, and state operator Veikkaus is not yet on the list.

• Finland's National Police Board had received 79 license applications as of Oct. 26, granted 12 and rejected none, according to figures given to iGaming Business.
• On Sept. 23 the board told Yle it held 75 applications and had decided on none of them, citing a processing time of six to eight months.
• Each applicant is invoiced a processing fee set at €29,000 for 2026, and the board accepts applications on a rolling basis with no deadline.
• Under government bill HE 16/2025, poker is classified as a casino game, Pokerit.fi reported.

Finland’s National Police Board had received 79 applications for online gambling licenses as of Oct. 26, had granted 12 and had rejected none, according to figures the regulator supplied to iGaming Business. The numbers came in reply to an information request from the trade outlet. They are the board’s first official confirmation of any approvals for a market that opens to licensed competition on July 1, 2027.

One name is missing from the approved list. Veikkaus, the state monopoly that applied to compete in the online market after liberalization, is not among the 12 companies cleared so far. Its position is time-limited: under the new Gambling Act, Veikkaus Oy keeps its monopoly under National Police Board supervision only until the end of June 2027, the Finnish government said in January.

Police Board goes from zero decisions to 12 licenses in October

The pace has changed quickly. On Sept. 23, the board told Yle it had 75 applications and had not decided on any of them, giving a processing time of six to eight months. By Oct. 26 the queue stood at 79, with a dozen approvals issued and no refusals.

Earlier in the year the numbers were smaller. The board reported 50 applications received on June 8 and said each applicant is invoiced a processing fee, set at €29,000 for 2026. It also said there is no deadline for applications, which it accepts on a rolling basis, so the figure of 79 is a snapshot of an open process rather than a closed field.

Filing opened on March 2, through the regional administration’s online service, for licenses covering betting, online slot and casino games, and electronic money bingo. With no applicant rejected, every decision the board has made public to date has been an approval. That pattern is consistent with a regulator working through its queue rather than screening applicants out, though the board has not described its reasoning.

Wildz, Hippos ATG and ComeOn announced licenses before the board’s count

Licensees went public ahead of the regulator. Wildz Group said the board notified it of its licensing status in a formal letter dated Oct. 15, Intergame reported. Four days later, Hippos ATG Oy, a joint venture of Sweden’s ATG and Suomen Hippos, announced a license covering horse betting, sports betting and online casino games.

On Oct. 22, European Entertainment Group said its subsidiary ComeOn Group had been granted every Finnish license it applied for, covering online casino and sports betting. Nordplay Group, 7bet and SkillOnNet have also announced approvals, joining ComeOn, SuomiVeto, Hippos ATG and Wildz Group among operators confirmed so far, according to Gaming Intelligence.

Between the Wildz letter in mid-October and the board’s Oct. 26 figures, public confirmation that Finland had started issuing licenses came only from the companies receiving them. The board’s figures to iGB put an official total on those announcements. Hippos ATG, the venture of Sweden’s ATG and Suomen Hippos, sits on the same approved list as online casino groups such as ComeOn, with horse racing, sports betting and casino businesses all represented.

HE 16/2025 places poker inside the casino license

For poker, the relevant detail sits in the legislation rather than the license count. Government bill HE 16/2025, submitted to parliament on March 21, 2025, classifies poker as a casino game, Pokerit.fi reported. The application categories that opened in March match that structure: betting, online slot and casino games, and electronic money bingo, with no separate poker class.

That framing means online poker in the licensed Finnish market would fall under the casino category. Operators already holding online casino approvals, such as ComeOn Group and Hippos ATG, therefore hold the license type under which poker is classified. Whether any of them will run a poker room in Finland has not been announced.

Veikkaus matters here too. Until the end of June 2027, no other company may run or market gambling in Finland, the government said, so the monopoly remains the only legal operator until the opening date regardless of how many licenses the board issues in the meantime.

Supervisory Agency takes over licensing on July 1, 2027

The National Police Board is handling applications only through the transition. The Finnish Supervisory Agency takes over licensing and supervision on July 1, 2027, the same date most provisions of the Gambling Act take effect. Any applications still pending at that point, and the decision on Veikkaus’s own online license if it has not been made, would sit with the new agency.

A second compliance date follows a year later. From July 1, 2028, licensees may only use gambling software from suppliers holding a software license.