Finland has sent its proposed commercial gambling regulations to the European Commission for review. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

The Finnish Government has sent its proposed commercial gambling legislation to the European Commission (EC) for review ahead of the Scandinavian country’s move into a demonopolised market on January 1, 2025. 

commercial operators poised to compete for market share

According to media reports over the weekend, Finland sent the EC its regulations for the forthcoming new market on November 1. The legislation paves the way for the government-owned Veikkaus Oy’s to end its Finland-wide monopoly on all gambling activity, with commercial operators poised to compete for market share across the iGaming vertical. 

A final addition to the submitted legislation compiled by a cross-party political committee was to do with horseracing, which was exclusively offered by the Veikkaus monopoly.  

The new regulations revealed that horseracing will fall under the competitive licensed market for online casino and sports betting. Finland’s Ministry of the Interior, however, stated that the sport would still benefit from government support, including breeding.

“In the future, through the state budget, support will be allocated to breeding, horse industry operator-specific advice and the development of the competition system,” a ministry statement said. Horseracing was a grey area when Finland released its draft legislation in July, with no indication whether it would fall under the commercial market or Veikkaus. 

In its statement, the ministry also confirmed the launch of Finland’s commercial market will be “no later than 1 January 2026.”

Next steps will be for Finland to await feedback from the EC and EU member states on the proposal’s consistency with European law. The official government line is that its proposal will “be presented to the parliament in the spring session of 2025.”