Finland’s online gambling rules raise channelisation concerns ahead of July 2027 launch

Finland is due to open its regulated online gambling market in July 2027, but the industry is already worrying that strict responsible gambling rules could make the licensed offer less appealing than offshore alternatives. For PSPs, that matters because channelisation is the whole point: if players do not stay inside the regulated system, the volume you can safely process there gets thinner fast.

1. Under the Finnish Gambling Act, Finland will end state-owned Veikkaus’ exclusive rights to offer online casino games and sports betting when the liberalised market launches in July 2027.
2. The Helsinki Times published an op-ed this week warning that Finland should pay attention to Sweden’s experience after it replaced its monopoly with an open licensing system seven years ago. The specific concern is familiar enough: if restrictions on gambling marketing and bonuses make the regulated market too restrictive, players may simply move to operators outside the Finnish licensing system.
3. The article says the objective is not only to regulate gambling, but also to keep players in the regulated market, where authorities can enforce responsible gambling measures and consumer protections. In other words, licences are the easy part; keeping the market commercially attractive is the part that usually causes the headache.
4. Sweden introduced its regulated online casino market in 2019 and set a target of at least 90 per cent channelisation to licensed operators. Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator, has itself suggested that the target may have been overly ambitious.
5. Sweden now has around 100 active licences, and its model brought competition, marketing rules, and the Spelpaus self-exclusion platform. But Swedish industry group BOS continues to point to gambling activity on unlicensed websites, while Acting Secretary General Daniel Valiollahi has argued that Spelinspektionen lacks sufficient enforcement powers against operators based abroad.

For payment firms serving high-risk verticals, the practical message is simple: licensing reform does not automatically translate into a bankable, high-volume market. If Finland follows the Swedish pattern, the real test will be whether regulated operators can stay competitive enough that customers do not drift back to offshore sites.