Regulation brief · Finland

iGaming advertising regulation in Finland — July 2027 licensing transition

As at 27 September 2026, Veikkaus retains its monopoly until the end of June 2027. Private operators cannot yet market gambling services to Finnish consumers. Licence applications opened on 1 March 2026; licensed competition begins on 1 July 2027. The incoming regime permits only specified marketing channels, with moderation, audience, content and disclosure requirements. The rules below describe that incoming regime unless identified as current restrictions.

By Oliwer Brewitz, Head of Marketing

Regulator: National Police Board (Finnish Supervisory Agency from 1 July 2027)
Minimum age: 18+
Last checked: 27 Sept 2026

Rules by channel

Display advertising

Private operators cannot advertise to Finnish consumers before 1 July 2027. Under the incoming section 51 rules, display must fall within a permitted setting, such as the operator's own website or an electronic publication corresponding to print media. General open-web or in-app programmatic permission is not established. Apply moderation, audience restrictions and section 55 disclosures.

Video and CTV

Private operators cannot advertise to Finnish consumers before 1 July 2027. The incoming rules permit qualifying television activity, not all video or CTV inventory automatically. Permission for a particular streaming or on-demand service is unconfirmed unless it fits a permitted statutory category. Apply moderation, audience restrictions and section 55 disclosures; a mandatory end-frame format is unconfirmed.

DOOH and outdoor

Private operators cannot advertise to Finnish consumers before 1 July 2027. The incoming outdoor permission covers private-licensee brand advertising, not individual gambling products. Do not place it near early childhood, pre-primary, basic or upper-secondary education premises, pharmacies, healthcare facilities or substance misuse services. Apply moderation and required disclosures. Numerical separation distances and DOOH-specific technical rules are unconfirmed.

Licensing and permitted advertising

The Ministry of the Interior confirms that betting, online slots, online casino games and online money bingo will open to licensed competition on 1 July 2027. Veikkaus retains its monopoly until then. A foreign licence or a pending Finnish application does not authorise private operators to advertise to Finnish consumers before launch.

Section 51 permits licensees to market themselves and games offered under their licence, subject to the Act's restrictions.
Permitted settings include operators' own websites and non-interactive marketing on their own social accounts; qualifying television and radio; public and sporting events; print and corresponding electronic publications; and gaming points for games available there.
Search advertising is permitted when search terms directly relate to the licensee or its games.
Outdoor advertising and direct marketing have separate conditions; marketing outside the permitted categories is prohibited.
Section 51 separately confines advertising of physical slot machines and casino games to the gaming halls and casinos where they are located; those venues may provide information but may not be marketed.

Audience and age rules

The gambling age limit is 18. Section 53 prohibits targeting minors or otherwise vulnerable people and prohibits minors from appearing in advertising.

Do not advertise in television, radio, publications or media services aimed at minors, or at sporting and other public events aimed at minors.
Section 54 permits direct marketing only with express consent and prohibits telephone direct marketing.
Under section 54, marketing must not target someone with an all-gambling exclusion or someone who has not played the operator's games during the previous two years.
For a game-specific exclusion, only games the person has not excluded may be marketed to them.
The supplied sources do not establish a universal age-verification method for advertising inventory or a blanket technical suppression requirement across all programmatic advertising.

Creative and content rules

Sections 51–52 require marketing to be moderate in quantity, scope, visibility and repetition, assessed both individually and across channels. Particularly attention-grabbing, conspicuous or frequently repeated activity does not meet that standard.

Do not pressure people to gamble, portray gambling as aspirational or excessively positive, praise frequent, prolonged or high-stakes play, or disparage abstinence or moderate play.
Do not present gambling as an everyday necessity, useful or harmless pastime, financial solution, livelihood, or route to social acceptance or success.
Do not misrepresent winning chances, overemphasise large wins, describe gambling as risk-free, or exploit inexperience or credulity.
Do not combine gambling advertising with credit marketing or urge people to gamble to fund charitable activities or state expenditure.
Section 55 requires the permitted gambling age and information on where to find gambling-control tools and help services in every advertisement.
Advertisements must also identify the granted licence and supervisory authority; radio is exempt from these two disclosures.
Mandatory bilingual Finnish and Swedish advertising, prescribed video end-frames and numerical frequency caps are unconfirmed in the supplied evidence.

Channel-specific rules

Before 1 July 2027, private operators cannot run Finnish-targeted gambling advertising in any of these channels. This is not a blanket ban on Veikkaus advertising. From launch, the following statutory channel limits apply alongside the audience, moderation and disclosure rules.

Display: operator-owned websites and electronic publications corresponding to print media are permitted settings. Section 51 does not provide general permission for banners across arbitrary websites, apps or open-exchange inventory.
Video/CTV: television activity covered by the Electronic Communications Services Act is permitted. A CTV device or video format does not itself establish eligibility; blanket permission for streaming, on-demand and online video inventory is unconfirmed.
DOOH/outdoor: private gambling licensees may advertise the licensee outdoors; this does not permit outdoor promotion of individual betting or online casino products.
Private-licensee outdoor advertising must not be near early childhood education premises, pre-primary or basic education premises, upper-secondary institutions, pharmacies, healthcare facilities or substance misuse services.
The supplied text gives no numerical outdoor separation distance or DOOH-specific screen, motion or scheduling rule.

Promotions and affiliates

Section 52 prohibits free or discounted gambling, bundled offers and play money except for customer bonus funds allowed under section 26. It also restricts free or discounted non-gambling goods, subject to section 26. The supplied extract does not include section 26, so its detailed bonus conditions are unconfirmed here.

Do not treat welcome bonuses, deposit offers or free-play campaigns as generally permitted.
Offering another gambling game during a purchase, game selection or winnings-collection transaction is prohibited, as is adding a separate chance-based benefit during a gambling purchase.
Affiliate and influencer marketing are reported as prohibited by Nordia's legal commentary; section 51's exhaustive channel list does not create a general affiliate or influencer exception.
Section 56 permits sponsorship without promoting the licensee's games.
Sponsorship agreements must not involve under-18s, under-18 events or competitions, or people producing content aimed at under-18s.
The operator's name or logo must not appear on products or services specifically intended for under-18s through sponsorship.

Recent and upcoming changes

The National Police Board is the current regulator. Licensing and supervision transfer to the Finnish Supervisory Agency on 1 July 2027.

1 March 2026: applications for gambling licences opened at the National Police Board.
1 July 2027: licensed competitive gambling services can begin and the new regulator takes over.
1 July 2028: the Police source states that supplying gambling software will require a gaming software licence.
The previously published EUR 29,000 application fee and six-to-eight-month processing target are unconfirmed in the supplied evidence.
The supplied Finlex extract is the primary basis for the incoming marketing rules; its exact source URL and commencement provision were not supplied.

Licence fees and gaming tax

What it costs to apply for and hold an online casino licence in Finland, with every figure taken from official sources.

See licence costs in Finland

Sources

How we apply this

Every campaign we run in Finland is gated on licence, market and age before the bid, with creative and placement checks applied per channel and placement-level evidence in reporting. This brief is a planning summary, not legal advice — confirm the current rules with the regulator before launch.

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