Warning that Finland's regulator is not ready

Finnish Member of Parliament Sinuhe Wallinheimo, from the ruling National Coalition Party, told iGB on the sidelines of SiGMA Rome that although the market opens on 1 July 2027, the responsible authority has not yet been established. Wallinheimo recalled that he was one of the advocates of the new regulatory structure even before the elections.

Under the current arrangement, responsibility for gambling regulation will pass from the National Police Board, which processes licence applications, to a new unit within the Finnish Supervisory Authority on the day the market opens. This unit is still being set up and recruitment is ongoing. The new authority will not only oversee the online market and other gambling types, but will also process licence applications. B2C licence applications will remain open, while the B2B supplier licence window will open on 1 July 2027.

The market opening had previously been postponed from an earlier date. According to reports, the reason is a shortage of staff at the supervisory authority. Finnish compliance lawyer and market expert Antti Koivula also argued in a column that, despite extensive preparations, the new regulator may not be fully ready given the scale of the work ahead of it.

Wallinheimo questioned what kind of regulator the market will face once it is operating. In his view, one approach could be a very strict model like Sweden's, which does not engage with operators and only imposes fines. Another approach could be a model like Denmark's, where the operator and the regulator remain in constant communication and cooperation. Wallinheimo also explained the reason for the reform: "We lost control, and 600-900 million euros in gaming revenue was lost abroad." In his view, the old system did not work, and protecting players and collecting tax revenue will become possible again with the new legislation. The expected channelization rate for the market is around 50%, while the Finnish authorities' target after the reform is 90%.