JAAKKO SOININEN Managing Director, Finnplay
DAINIS NIEDRA COO, Enlabs, Entain
Finland The next big player in Europe?
One of the world’s highest per-capita gambling markets, Finland is scheduled to open for business in early 2026. Previewing their panel at SBC Summit, Dainis Niedra, Jaakko Soininen and Rolf Sims discuss the potential regulatory structure and opportunities for brands to enter the market – with licence applications expected to start in 2025.
What differentiates Finland's gaming market from other European markets?
Dainis: When we speak about the igaming business, it becomes increasingly difficult to find differences between countries, but in the case of Finland, I would highlight these three points. Firstly, unlike many other European countries that have liberalised their gambling markets, Finland still operates under a state monopoly system. Same time, we can say that the unregulated Finish market is well established and a large number of big international gaming and betting brands still have or used to have their presence there. Secondly, Finland's iGaming sector is technologically advanced, where players know what good user experience and service mean. As the last point I would mention that Finland is special with above the average participation rate in gambling related activities.
Jaakko: Apart from the obvious answer of being one of the last monopolies standing in Europe, I believe the Finnish market is differentiated by its history. Slogans and availability have normalised gambling to the point that when I was in high school in the late 1990s, it was normal to go to a kiosk to place bets during your school break while buying candy, soda or other snacks. Tis has led to Finland being one of the top 5 countries in the world for per capita gambling spend. Tere are also technical specialities in Finland, but I do believe that every market has some sort of specialities in terms of technical solutions used.
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Rolf: Finland is the last country in Europe, alongside Norway, that has maintained a monopoly for their online gambling market with all forms of gambling being offered by the state owned company Veikkaus. All other countries in Europe have reregulated their respective domestic online markets. By choosing now to adopt a licensing system, Finland is following suit and has an opportunity to learn from successful regulations across Europe, and deliver an online gambling framework that achieves high channelisation of Finnish customers to licensed, safe and legal operators.
Finland has closely benchmarked a number of European regulations, including that of the Swedish, Danish and Dutch. What are your thoughts on the proposed legislation?
Rolf: Kindred has over the last years anticipated a licensing system in the Finland and therefore engaged directly with political stakeholders, something we will continue to do so in the future. We appreciate the Finnish civil servants who have put a lot of work into this on a tight schedule. We also believe that the best outcome comes from open and active dialogue between the elected politicians, regulator and the industry. We thoroughly support the re-regulation process and are at present assessing the current law proposal which from the outset appears to create a good basis for a new regulatory model in Finland. Tere is still a lot to specify and decide in this draft proposal. We have great trust in the Finnish decision making process.
ROLF SIMS Head of Corporate Affairs, Kindred Group
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