2026 Will Be the Year of Innovation for Finland’s iGaming Market

The gambling market in Finland is sizable and has always been controlled by state-owned company Veikkaus. The Finnish government has announced that the monopoly on gambling is no longer sustainable, and that opening up the market will encourage better channelisation rates with licensed operators, and encourage healthy and enjoyable gambling practices. As of 2026, Veikkaus will no longer have exclusive rights to provide sports betting and online casino services to the people of Finland. 

A key part of this proposal will see Veikkaus split into multiple companies, each functioning individually under the same mother group. This reverses an action put into place in 2017, which merged Fintoto (horse-racing betting company) and Raha-automaattiyhdistys (slot machine company) with Veikkaus. The aim of this change was to broaden the kind of gambling that Finns could partake in, and there are hopes that with the end of this monopoly will come new and exciting iGaming options. Some of the best online casinos are already available to the Finnish population, but these carry licences from overseas jurisdictions such as Malta and Curacao - not from Veikkaus itself. Similarly, many Finnish players choose to gamble at crypto sites like the best Solana casinos, as these are also based overseas and accept players from all over the world. Sergio Zammit notes that Solana’s high processing speeds and low transaction costs are the main reasons these sites are thriving, however, Bitcoin and Ethereum are also equally popular amongst crypto gamblers.

The 2026 Gambling Market Reform Act will propel Finland in line with its neighbors and peers, like Denmark and Sweden. The gambling industry desperately needed some healthy competition, and many are hopeful that this shake-up will reenergize the economy. Perhaps the most crucial point in the act is the creation of a new licensing system, which allows private and foreign iGaming providers to offer their services in Finland. Exact details on how this will work are yet to be released, but we’re sure that many of the greats in the gambling world are excited about entering Finland. 

Responsible gaming is also a priority for the Finnish government. The Reform Act will introduce a self-exclusion scheme, which is something other countries such as the United Kingdom have already established, and is coming to the US soon. It will serve as a way for players to self-impose time or financial limits on themselves, and licensed gambling operators will be signed up to the scheme as well. Other measures will also be brought in to regulate marketing efforts, money laundering, age restrictions, and more. 

This overhaul of the gambling market in Finland has been a long time coming. Lots of interested parties, such as Rahapeliala, the Finnish online gambling trade association, have been calling for a formalized licensing model for a long time. They, as well as many others, felt that the Finnish gambling space needed to be modernized, and that it should take advantage of what the digital space had to offer, from Bitcoin casinos to virtual reality. As of 2026, Finnish players will be able to use mobile devices, AI, VR, and AR for gambling. What’s more, it will encourage technology companies to enter the market as well, further encouraging healthy market competition.