Finland publishes draft iGaming rules with autoplay ban, age-based stake caps, and RTP bands

Finland’s Ministry of the Interior has published four draft regulations under the newly enacted Gambling Act (10/2026), setting out the technical, operational, and player-protection rules that license holders would need to meet before the liberalized iGaming market opens on 1 July 2027. For PSPs and acquiring teams, the point is straightforward: this is the rulebook that will shape product design, risk controls, and what kind of gameplay Finland will allow in practice.

1. The drafts arrive while the market is still in pre-launch mode, but license interest is already visible: around 50 operator license applications have been submitted so far. The missing piece for the last few months has been clarity on player-protection measures, which is exactly what these drafts are meant to provide.
2. One of the clearest operational changes is a ban on autoplay in electronic slots. Every spin must be started manually, each spin must last at least 2.5 seconds, and players will not be able to speed up the animations. Antti Koivula, Commercial Director of Hippos ATG, said the autoplay ban was the element that would draw the most attention, though it did not surprise him. He also flagged a more unexpected proposal: reminders every 15 minutes that require the player to actively decide whether to continue the session or close the game. That confirmation rule would not apply to player-versus-player casino games.
3. The drafts also require operators to tell users when their decisions do not affect random outcomes. In practice, that is a transparency rule aimed at making the mechanics of the product clearer to players, which matters because regulators tend to care less about elegant UX than about whether customers understand what they are actually buying.
4. Finland is also setting mandatory return-to-player (RTP) bands by product type. Slot machines and casino table games would need to sit between 70% and 99.9% RTP. Daily draw betting games would fall between 50% and 70%, while online betting products would need to be between 55% and 80%.
5. Stake caps will also vary by player age for online slots. Players under 25 would be limited to $11 per spin, equivalent to the €10 proposed in the draft, while players over 25 could stake up to $22 per spin (€20). The same general €20 per round limit would apply to electronic slots and electronic bingo. Online poker would have an initial stake limit of $1,100 per game, equivalent to the €1,000 set out in the draft. The text cuts off after noting that games combining categories would be treated separately, so that part of the regime is still not fully visible in the published excerpt.