Finland ends its online gambling monopoly on July 1, 2027. President Stubb signed the new Gambling Act on January 16, 2026, parliament approved it with over 94% support, and licence applications opened on March 1, 2026 (NEXT.io, 2026; iGaming Business, 2026). The headlines covered that part. What most coverage skipped is what the marketing rules actually do to customer acquisition.
Affiliate and influencer marketing are both out, and welcome bonuses with them. Search engine marketing is one of the named permitted channels, which leaves organic and paid search as the primary lawful acquisition channels. If you plan to operate in Finland, your content strategy just became your marketing strategy.
What the 2027 Framework Actually Says
The licensed market opens to online betting, online casino, slots, and money bingo on July 1, 2027. Veikkaus keeps exclusive rights to lotteries, scratch cards, and land-based gaming machines (Finnplay, 2026; ICLG Finland 2026).
- Licensing: applications opened March 1, 2026 through the National Police Board. A gambling licence costs EUR 29,000, runs up to five years, and carries an annual supervisory fee between EUR 4,000 and EUR 400,000 depending on turnover (Helsinki Times, 2025).
- Tax: 22% on gross gaming revenue (Bird & Bird, 2024).
- Supervision: the National Police Board runs licensing until June 30, 2027. A new Finnish Supervisory Agency under the Ministry of Finance takes over from July 1, 2027 (iGaming Business, 2026).
- Software: from July 1, 2028, licensed operators must source games from licensed B2B software providers (iGaming Today, 2026).
- Timeline: licensed operation begins July 1, 2027. The transition year is now.
The Marketing Rules Are the Real Story
The Act does not just open the market. It closes most of the acquisition channels operators use everywhere else (NEXT.io, 2026; Nordia Law, 2026):
- Affiliate marketing is out, though not by a clause that names it. A standalone affiliate provision was dropped during drafting. The Act lists the channels a licence holder may use and affiliate sites are not on that list, so the affiliate model that built the Nordic iGaming ecosystem does not exist in licensed Finland.
- Influencer marketing is out, excluded by the combination of the own-account and non-interactive rules and confirmed in the Ministry of the Interior questions and answers. That covers promotions by content creators on any platform.
- Bonuses split by purpose. As acquisition marketing they are prohibited, which removes welcome offers, free play, deposit bonuses and bundled incentives. As retention to an existing customer, bonus play money is permitted if it is moderate, offered on equal terms, capped at a wagering requirement of five times the bonus amount, and not tied to how much the customer has spent.
- Interactive marketing is restricted: no two-way social media conversations, no responding to user comments, not even with an emoji.
- Marketing must stay moderate in volume and visibility, and anything reaching minors is prohibited.
One channel got explicit permission: search engine marketing. The government justified it on the grounds that search reaches people who are actively looking for gambling information (NEXT.io, 2026). Organic search sits in the same logic. A player typing a query has chosen to look.
What This Means for Operators
Every operator entering Finland faces the same constraint: you cannot buy your way into visibility through affiliates, influencers, or bonus offers. What remains is brand, product, and search. The operators that build Finnish-language content depth before July 2027 will meet the market with topical authority already in place. The ones that wait will compete for the same queries from a standing start, in a language most international content teams cannot write.
Compliant content is the hard part. Finnish gambling content under the new framework needs correct licensing terminology, responsible gambling integration, and marketing language that stays inside the moderation requirements. A page that reads like an ad is a regulatory problem. A page that answers a player’s actual question is both compliant and rankable.
What This Means for Affiliates
The honest version: the licensed Finnish market has no room for the classic affiliate model. Affiliates currently serving Finnish players from offshore have 11 months to decide what their traffic is worth and to whom. Some will pivot to markets where the model survives. Some will convert their sites into media brands with different monetization. Some will sell.
What does not change: Finnish players will keep searching, and content that ranks will keep getting that traffic. The question is the business model behind the page, and that question needs an answer before July 2027, not after.
The Window Is Now
Google does not build topical authority overnight, and neither do AI systems deciding which sources to cite. Content published and indexed in 2026 has a year to accumulate the signals that content published in August 2027 will not have. I said the same thing about every market transition I have watched since I started doing SEO in 2010, and the pattern has held every time: the sites that built early won the opening.
I write Finnish and Estonian regulated-market content and documents, read existing content against the new framework and write up what I find, and build the SEO architecture underneath it. This is drafting, translation and written analysis. It is not legal advice or compliance approval. Your compliance function or counsel reviews and approves what is delivered. If Finland is on your 2027 roadmap, talk to me now, while the runway still exists.
Finland 2027 Licensing FAQ
When does Finland’s licensed gambling market open?
July 1, 2027. The new Gambling Act was signed in January 2026, and licence applications opened March 1, 2026 through the National Police Board.
What does a Finnish gambling licence cost?
EUR 29,000 for the licence, valid up to five years, plus an annual supervisory fee between EUR 4,000 and EUR 400,000 depending on turnover. Operator tax is 22% of gross gaming revenue.
Is affiliate marketing allowed in the new Finnish market?
No, but not because the Act names them. A standalone affiliate clause was dropped during drafting. The Act instead lists the channels a licence holder may use, and anything not on that list is prohibited. Affiliate activity is excluded because it is not a listed channel. Influencer activity is excluded by the combination of the own-account and non-interactive rules, supported by the Ministry of the Interior questions and answers. Search engine marketing is named and permitted, which makes organic and paid search the primary lawful acquisition channels.
Are bonuses allowed under the new Finnish Gambling Act?
The split is by purpose. As acquisition marketing they are prohibited: welcome offers, free play, deposit bonuses, discounted play and bundled incentives are all out. As retention to a customer with an established relationship, bonus play money is permitted if it is moderate, offered on equal terms, carries a wagering requirement no higher than five times the bonus amount, and is not tied to how much money or time the customer has spent. An established customer relationship is a statutory concept and is not simply having an account. A permitted retention bonus that is advertised publicly is still the marketing of a bonus.
Can a licensed operator send direct marketing to its database?
Only through three screens. Prior explicit consent is required. Telephone marketing is prohibited and text messages are permitted where consent exists. On top of consent, marketing may not go to a person who has set a block on all gambling, or who has not played that licence holder’s own games in the preceding two years. The second limb is the operator’s own games, not gambling anywhere, so a player active with a competitor is still off your list.
What has to appear in every marketing communication?
Section 55 requires each communication to state the legal age limit and where to find play-management tools and help for gambling problems. Counsel also treat the licence holder’s identity and the supervising authority as required. A brief written from the content restrictions alone ships advertisements without the statutory footer, which fails independently of what the copy says.
What happens to Veikkaus?
Veikkaus keeps exclusive rights to lotteries, scratch cards, and land-based gaming machines. Online betting, casino, slots, and money bingo open to licensed competition.
Sources: NEXT.io, iGaming Business, Nordia Law, Bird & Bird, Finnplay, ICLG Gambling Laws Report Finland 2026, Helsinki Times, iGaming Today. Rahapelilaki (Gambling Act 10/2026), Chapter 4, sections 51 to 55. Verified 14 September 2026. This article is market analysis, not legal advice. For licence applications, talk to a Finnish gaming lawyer.
About the Author
Gloria Kesa
Gloria Kesa writes regulated-market content and documents, and translates them, for the Finnish and Estonian markets. Translating since 2005. Contracts, technical documents and marketing materials in Estonian, Finnish, English and German since June 2006. Legal translation since 2010. Terms of service and privacy policy translation for iGaming, crypto and trading platforms since 2017. Native Finnish and Estonian. This article is a practitioner’s reading of the Act, not legal advice, and no compliance sign-off is offered.
The exposure this creates is not only a gambling problem. A Finnish fintech market entry failed on the same point, terminology that did not match the authority’s own wording, and content that carried the compliance risk itself shows how it reads on live affiliate pages in Finland and Estonia.
Compliance content, SEO and legal translation for regulated markets. Finnish, Estonian, English, German, Dutch and Russian. Translating since 2005, legal translation since 2010, terms of service and privacy policy translation for iGaming, crypto and trading platforms since 2017. Founder of FinEst Verba.
Drafting, translation and written analysis. Not legal advice, and no compliance sign-off is offered.
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