Finland Approves 18 Gambling Operators, 63 Applications Still Waiting
Finland’s National Police Board (NPB) has granted 18 licences under the country’s new Gambling Act. Another 63 applications are still under review.
The board published the list on October 29, 2026. The licences are valid from July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2032.
The list includes Hippos ATG Oy, Skill On Net Ltd, SuomiVeto Oy and Granturo Finland Ltd. It names only the companies, not the groups that own them. Wildz Group was the first operator to announce its approval, on October 15, 2026.
Six companies were added after October 26, 2026, when the NPB had confirmed 12 licences from 79 applications with no rejections.
The NPB now expects each application to take six to eight months, up from its earlier estimate of three to six months. Most applicants are based outside Finland, which adds to the workload.
Juho Puisto, senior adviser at the NPB’s Gambling Administration, explained:
Most of the applicants are foreign companies. In these cases, it is the applicant’s responsibility to supply the required official reports and other attachments to the National Police Board.
Licence holders can start offering gambling no earlier than July 1, 2027, after completing the required audits and connecting to the NPB’s supervision system. There is no application deadline and no cap on the number of operators.
None of the licences has gone to a Veikkaus company. The state-owned operator keeps its monopoly on online betting and casino until the end of June 2027.
