18 of 81 Licence Applications Approved in Finland

The Finnish National Police Board has announced the total number of licence applications submitted for the newly regulated gambling market. According to the Board, a total of 81 applications were received. This is an increase compared with the 70 applications received in September. So far, 18 of these applications have been approved.

The list of approved organisations includes nine separate operators. ComeOn Group stands out with six separate licences. The list includes international companies as well as new ventures set up to enter the market. These include a joint venture between ATG and the Finnish trotting federation, and SuomiVeto, created by the founders of BetCity.nl.

The Board says that processing is moving quickly, but the total time is estimated at six to eight months. Senior adviser Juho Puisto said the pending applications are extensive. He said the official documents submitted by foreign companies vary from country to country, so requests for additional information are frequent. He also stressed that a single application can contain hundreds of pages of documents.

Operators that receive a licence will be entitled to operate in the market from 1 July 2027. Malta-based Wildz Group was the first gaming company to announce that it had obtained a licence in the B2C segment. Many other operators quickly followed suit.