The Finland Gambling Reform Bill makes it into parliament

The Finland Gambling Reform Bill makes it into parliament

The Finland Gambling Reform Bill makes it into parliament

 The government of Finland has sent a bill to the parliament outlining its plans for a new gaming framework. This gives people more hope that the country can meet the goal set by the online gambling trade group Rahapeliala Ry and pass laws by the middle of summer.
 Finland's government passed a bill to change the way
 The bill was presented yesterday (20 March) and plans for a new way for Finland's gaming market to work.  The main change to the rules would be letting private operators into the country's internet gambling market, just like Sweden and Denmark have already done.

 At the moment, Veikkaus is the only company that lets people gamble online. They offer lottery games, sports betting, and casino games.  This set-up would end at the end of 2026 if the bill passes as it is now.  But Veikkaus will still be the only one who can run the lottery, scratch cards, store gaming machines, and casino games.

 In the old rules, it was said that operators could apply for licenses starting January 1, 2026, which is when the new rules will actually start.  This would be done so that the new-look market could open a year later, at the beginning of 2027.  But some parties have said that the launch could happen sooner because the bill moved quickly through parliament.

 The government says the change will help make gaming safer in Finland.  It said that letting more licensed operators into a bigger market would cut down on the number of people using illegal sites that don't protect their users as well as licensed providers.

 Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen introduced the bill to parliament and said, "The goal of the bill has been to find a regulatory solution in which the regulation fighting gambling harms would be balanced with the fact that gambling companies want to apply for a licence and that online gambling would be directed to a regulated gaming offering."

 Could the bill change things by June?
 The bill will now be sent to different parliament groups to be looked over again.  Some changes are likely to be made to this, but they shouldn't really slow things down.

 Mika Kuismanen, CEO of Rahapeliala Ry, said in January that he thought the law could be passed by the end of June.  This would mean that parliament would act pretty quickly.

 But Antti Koivula, a gaming lawyer in the area, thinks it's more possible that parliament will vote on the bill in the autumn.

 Koivula wrote on LinkedIn, "Minor changes are expected before the parliament votes on its approval, which is likely to happen in the autumn of 2025."  A lot of people in politics agree that change is needed, so the vote should be easy.

 "This is a big step forward for Finland's online gambling business."  The proposed law tries to break up the long-standing gambling monopoly and allow new players to enter the market. This will bring Finland in line with how markets work in the rest of Europe.

 How will Finland be different in other ways?
 Some of the other things that the bill does are allow commercial businesses to start taking bets on horse races.  In the past, this could only be done through Veikkaus because it had a monopoly.

 People would still have to be 18 years old to legally gamble, and they would all need to show some kind of ID to play.  People would also be able to block themselves from all legal businesses under the new plan.

 When it comes to gaming harms, operators would have to keep an eye on players to see if they do anything that seems odd.  In addition, operators would have to take steps to stop crimes and abuses that happen when people gamble.

 The controlled market would be watched over by a new Licensing and Supervision Authority, which has also been suggested to parliament.

 In terms of promotion, this would be okay as long as it didn't break any of the rules in the bill.  Some of these are not selling to minors or other vulnerable people and not showing minors in any marketing materials.