Finland Receives 75 Gambling License Applications Ahead of July 1, 2027 Market Launch

Finland has already received 75 gambling license applications as it moves toward a regulated market launch on July 1, 2027. For operators and PSPs, the important part is not the headline number itself but the fact that a new licensed market is forming around a market formerly controlled by Veikkaus, with 22% tax on revenue and a supervisory regime that will take over licensing from the National Police Board.

1. The National Police Board (NBP) said 75 applications have been filed so far, including 25 received in the past seven weeks. The regulator has not said how many will be approved, and it has not published the full list of interested companies.
2. Finland’s new gambling regime is scheduled to go live on July 1, 2027. That will end the country’s gambling monopoly, under which government-owned operator Veikkaus has held exclusive control of the online betting and gaming sector.
3. Once the market opens, the newly created Finnish Supervisory Agency will take over licensing duties. The NBP has indicated that the review process can take six to eight months, and there is no limit on the number of applicants or deadline for applying.
4. Some operators have already gone public. LeoVegas, for example, has announced its intention to enter the market, but it is not yet clear which applicants have already been reviewed, approved, or rejected.
5. Under the new framework, operators will pay 22% of their revenue in taxes. The article also notes that new entrants will have to compete with Veikkaus’s strong brand recognition, while tighter advertising restrictions and safe gaming measures are expected to shape the market structure.

For high-risk payment providers, the practical takeaway is that Finland is moving from a single-operator monopoly to an open licensed market with a known tax rate, a new regulator, and no cap on applicants. That usually means more merchants, more competition for acquiring relationships, and a lot of interest before the licensing calendar even gets fully underway.