As Finland prepares to transition from a monopoly to a licensed gambling market in 2027, the government has published two draft technical regulations to guide prospective operators.
According to Nordic Legal, these drafts focus on Game Integrity and Information Security, establishing the benchmarks for the new open market.
The regulations mandate that Random Number Generator (RNG) mechanics must be fully traceable, with verifiable testing protocols to ensure fair play. Regarding security, license holders will face biennial information security tests and annual external vulnerability scans conducted by accredited inspection bodies.
The framework suggests that businesses already certified in Denmark or Sweden may be able to leverage those credentials, though the full extent of this reciprocity remains to be clarified.
While the technical framework takes shape, the future of the current monopoly holder, Veikkaus, is under scrutiny. Maija Strandberg, Finland’s Director General of Ownership Steering, recently hinted that a public listing for Veikkaus could be possible by 2027.
Industry experts suggest Finland could follow the French model used for FDJ, where the state retains control over exclusive lottery rights while privatizing competitive verticals.
This would potentially split Veikkaus into separate entities, technological, B2B, and multi-license operations, allowing the state to focus on regulation rather than commercial operation.
Jari Vähänen, Co-Founder & Partner at The Finnish Gambling Consultants:
“They [the state] can even sell the majority but have different kinds of stocks there. So, in practice, if that will happen, let’s assume that Finland will privatise just the multi-license part of the Veikkaus, it should be quite simple to actually do.”
“If they listed the whole of Veikkaus, there will be at least four separate entities under the Veikkaus umbrella when the legislation changes at the beginning of 2027… they are private or will be private entities competing against the other companies, but then they tell different stories than the exclusive license holder Veikkaus, so I don’t know how that could happen.”
“My personal opinion is that from a business perspective and also from a legal perspective, it would be much better when the state doesn’t have too big a role in the business, when they are regulating and setting laws for the same business.”
