Finland has submitted its proposed legislation for a competitive regulated gambling market to the European Commission.

Finland.- The European Commission has received the final version of Finland’s proposed legislation to end its state gambling monopoly and open the market to competition. The government submitted the bill earlier than initially expected, which has allowed it to revert to a target launch date of January 1 2026 for a competitive regulated market. That had been the original plan, but the government later put the target back to 2027.

A significant change in the final version of the legislation is that commercial gambling operators will be allowed to offer betting on horseracing. The government was initially considering keeping the vertical as a monopoly activity. After listening to feedback from stakeholders in the sector, Finland’s Ministry of the Interior said it would provide support to the sector via the state budget.

The European Commission and EU member states will now be able to provide feedback on whether they consider the proposed framework to comply with European Union legislation. The government plans to submit a final draft to Finland’s parliament in the spring session.

The draft legislation was published in July for a public consultation. That saw some criticism from industry stakeholders, who warned that the market may be too restrictive to allow healthy competition and a solid channelisation to licensed offerings. 

There has been particular criticism of the proposed ban on affiliate marketing and social media marketing. The European Gaming and Betting Association warned that such a ban “might backfire”, making licensed operators less competitive. 

What about Veikkaus?

The plan is to split Finland’s state-controlled monopoly gambling operator into at least two separate businesses: its commercial offering and its national lottery operation, which will remain a monopoly. Some figures in the government are in favour of selling off the commercial side of the operator.

In the meantime, the state-owned gambling operator Veikkaus has been in contract negotiations with up to 620 employees which could lead to more redundancies. The move follows a drop in gross gaming revenue (GGR) of 21 per cent in H1 and as Finland prepares to open the gambling market to competition.

Finland is one of the few remaining countries in Europe that still has a state monopoly over gambling. Norway is another major example. The Norwegian conservative party, Høyre, the main opposition in the country, has made a manifesto commitment to open the Norwegian gambling market to competition.