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20.3.2025 | Today, the Government submitted to Parliament a legislative proposal on a new gambling system. The Government proposes to end Veikkaus' gambling games monopoly in betting and in online slot machine and casino games at the end of 2026, and to open the provision of these games to competition.

Questions and answers on gambling system reform General information on the gambling system reform Why switch over to a licensing system and retain a partial monopoly system instead of, for example, strengthening the current system based on the Vei...

Gambling legislation helps to prevent and reduce gambling-related harm In Finland, gambling games are run by the state-owned company Veikkaus Oy. In line with the Government Programme, the gambling system will be reformed by introducing licences t...

Interoperability

10.6.2026 | The Ministry of the Interior has sent out for comments four draft decrees to be issued under the Gambling Act. A draft government decree covers the operation of gambling by the holder of an exclusive licence. The draft decrees of the Ministry of the Interior concern the rules of play for gambling operated by the exclusive licence holder, the operation of gambling by gambling licence holders in the competitive market, and the start of the period for claiming winnings.

18.6.2026 | The Ministry of the Interior is requesting views on a draft government proposal for amending the Lotteries Act and the Gambling Act. The proposed amendments would allow scratch cards to be given as gifts. The public consultation round will end on 13 August 2026.

Government Programme measures in the police sector The Government Programme aims to strengthen security and society's resilience. Police presence will be secured throughout the country. The Government will step up the combating of crime to improve...

26.1.2026 | The Ministry of the Interior has supplemented the decree on fees charged for services provided by the police in 2026 with licence fees related to gambling services under the new Gambling Act. The new fees will be charged for an exclusive licence, a gambling licence and an authorisation for international cooperation for the holder of an exclusive licence or a gambling licence. The fees will also be charged for the alteration of an exclusive licence or a gambling licence.

15.1.2026 | Veikkaus Oy’s monopoly on running gambling games will end. Under the new Gambling Act, the running of betting games, online slot and casino games, and online money bingo will be opened to competition under a licensing system. In its session on 15 January, the Government proposed that the President of the Republic approve the Gambling Act on 16 January. Most provisions of the new act will enter into force on 1 July 2027. 

21.4.2026 | The Ministry of the Interior has set up a legislative project to prepare amendments to the Lotteries Act and the Gambling Act concerning the claiming of winnings, with the aim of making it possible to give scratch cards as gifts. The project will run until 31 December 2026.

3.7.2024 | The Ministry of the Interior is requesting comments on the draft government proposal for a new gambling act. The reform of the gambling system is based on the Government Programme. Under the proposal, Veikkaus Oy would no longer hold the monopoly to arrange betting and online slot machine games and casino games. These games would be opened up to competition by means of licensing as laid out in the Government Programme.

24.10.2023 | The Ministry of the Interior has set up a legislative project on the reform of the gambling system. The project will prepare for the introduction of a licence system for gambling in accordance with the Government Programme.

20.12.2023 | The start of 2024 will see the entry into force of amendments to acts and decrees. This press release provides a summary of the most important changes.

10.11.2022 | The Government proposes amendments to the Lotteries Act to make it compatible with a new model for financing activities with proceeds from gambling. From the beginning of 2024, Veikkaus Oy’s proceeds could be entered in the Budget without earmarking their purpose of use under the Lotteries Act.

7.9.2023 | On Thursday 7 September, the Government issued a Decree Amending the Decree on the Running of Veikkaus Oy's Gambling Games. The current decree has been updated to correspond to the amendments made to the Lotteries Act. The amendment will enable Veikkaus to create a new way to run lotteries online.

Hankkeen tavoitteena on selvittää rahapelijärjestelmän uudistamista hallitusohjelman mukaisesti ja valmistella ehdotus lisenssijärjestelmään siirtymistä koskevaksi säädösperustaksi.

17.4.2023 | The final report of the preliminary study on the monopoly for gambling activities was submitted to the Ministry of the Interior on 17 April 2023. The objective of the project, for which the Ministry of the Interior appointed a research group on 5 January 2023, was to describe the current state of affairs and map out alternative models for the gambling system to support political decision-making. 

22.12.2021 | The Lotteries Act that regulates gambling will be amended. The focus of the reform is on preventing harm caused by gambling, combating marketing that violates the Lotteries Act, and directing the demand for gambling towards activities that are covered by the Lotteries Act. The President of the Republic approved the bill on 22 December 2021. The amendments will enter into force on 1 January 2022.

23.9.2021 | The Lotteries Act regulating gambling will be amended. The key proposals of the reform include preventing the harm caused by gambling, combating marketing that violates the Lotteries Act, and directing the demand for gambling towards services that are provided under the Lotteries Act. The Government submitted to Parliament a proposal to reform the Lotteries Act on 23 September 2021. 

Interoperability

7.1.2021 | On 7 January 2021, the Ministry of the Interior sent out for comments a proposal for reforming the Lotteries Act, which regulates gambling in Finland. The key points of the proposal include preventing the harm caused by gambling in an effective manner, combating marketing that violates the Lotteries Act, and securing Veikkaus Oy’s capacity to channel the demand for gambling. The basic premise of ...

31.1.2020 | The Ministry of the Interior has launched a project focused on a reform to the Lotteries Act. In line with the Government Programme, the goal is to determine any needs to reform the Lotteries Act, especially with an eye on further enhancing the prevention and reduction of the harmful effects of gambling. Moreover, legislative means to support the operating conditions of Veikkaus Oy and strengthen the exclusive right system will also be examined

28.4.2020 | The loss limits of Veikkaus Oy's fast-paced gambling games are to be lowered. The maximum loss limit will be lowered to EUR 500 (now 2,000) per month and EUR 500 (now 1,000) per day. Amendments to the Act will enter into force on 1 May and will remain in force until 30 September 2020. The aim of the amendments is to prevent and reduce more effectively economic, social and health harm caused by gambling during the coronavirus epidemic.

18.12.2020 | Amendments to legislation and decrees applying to the police, immigration and border control will enter into force at the beginning of 2021, of which the most important ones are explained in this release.

29.5.2019 | The Ministry of the Interior examined the needs to develop gambling legislation. The pilot study assessed, for example, whether gambling harms could be reduced by using technical blocking measures to restrict gambling offerings against the Lotteries Act.

26.2.2021 | A study on the effects of diminished proceeds from gambling activities has been completed. The study examines four options for developing the Finnish gambling system. The working group sets as its primary option a comprehensive overhaul that would place gambling proceeds within the scope of universal coverage in central government revenue and existing beneficiaries would be under the spending limits procedure. The report was published on 26 February.

16.5.2019 | In order to reduce the negative economic, social and health impacts of gambling, players are in future required to identify themselves when they play slot machines found in shops or kiosks, for example.

21.11.2019 | The Government has appointed a new Advisory Board on Gaming for the parliamentary term 2019–2023. According to the Lotteries Act, the task of the Advisory Board is to monitor the achievement of gambling policy goals and development needs in order to maintain and strengthen the exclusive right system.

25.10.2018 | In order to reduce the negative economic, social and health impacts of gambling, the Government is proposing requiring players to identify themselves when they play slot machines found in shops or kiosks, for example. The proposal on this matter was submitted to Parliament on 25 October.

23.5.2018 | The Ministry of the Interior has launched a new project to reform the Lotteries Act. The previous reform of the Lotteries Act focused on the merger of the gambling operators. The new Veikkaus — a fully State-owned Finnish gambling company — started operating at the beginning of 2017. The current project will prepare legislative amendments concerning the introduction of compulsory identification...

11.12.2017 | Players will be able to have only one game account for the online betting games offered by Veikkaus Oy. The online casino accounts and other online betting game accounts that Veikkaus has opened to its players will be combined into a single game account. This game account will be applied to all online betting games made available by Veikkaus. In connection with this, the gaming limitations set for online gaming will also be harmonised.

21.6.2018 | It is proposed that players of slot machines located across the country, excluding those located in game arcades, be required to identify themselves from the start of 2021. Compulsory identification would make it technically possible to introduce restrictions to manage at-risk gambling on slot machines too. At the moment, players must identify themselves when they play Veikkaus online games. The propo...

18.3.2016 | Esitys uudesta rahapeliyhtiöstä lausunnoille

28.2.2019 | The Ministry of the Interior requested local rescue departments to conduct a survey on the safety of exiting so-called escape rooms in their area. The survey was carried out in cooperation with the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency TUKES that monitors the safety of consumer services in Finland. The motivation for the survey was a fire in an escape room in Poland in the beginning of January that killed 5 people and left one severely injured.

17.3.2020 | The Government has decided to begin restricting cross-border traffic at Finland’s borders starting on Thursday 19 March at midnight. Border-crossing points will be closed and border controls will be reintroduced. The police will monitor, within the limits of their resources, compliance with the restrictions on public gatherings imposed due to the coronavirus and, if necessary, provide executive assistance to other authorities.

15.10.2015 | Uuteen rahapeliyhtiöön tähtäävän lainsäädännön valmistelu alkaa

25.2.2014 | Talouspoliittinen ministerivaliokunta linjasi toimenpiteitä rahapelimonopolin vahvistamiseksi

30.6.2015 | Rahapeliyhtiöiden yhdistyminen etenee

17.9.2015 | Kaikkien kolmen rahapeliyhteisön rahapelitoimintojen yhdistäminen aloitetaan

10.9.2014 | Finnish gambling model

13.3.2015 | Virkamiestyöryhmä: Rahapelitoiminnat keskitettävä yhteen yhtiöön

3.6.2024 | The Government Programme aims to safeguard the activities of Finland’s existing shooting ranges and promote the establishment of new shooting ranges. The Finnish Ministry of the Interior has set up a project to examine ways to safeguard the activities of shooting ranges and to prepare the necessary legislative amendments.

29.4.2024 | Pimeässä verkossa tehtävistä palvelupyynnöistä 80 prosenttia liittyy lapsiin kohdistuvaa seksuaaliväkivaltaa kuvaavaan aineistoon (Child Sexual Abuse Material, CSAM), vaikka tähän aihepiiriin liittyviä sivustoja on vain 4 prosenttia kaikista TOR-verkon sivustoista.

10.7.2019 | The ability to prepare for extreme weather events will be increasingly important in the future. A European team of researchers has developed a role-playing game to help authorities plan their response to extreme weather events. Finland’s Presidency will test the game at a workshop for civil protection authorities focusing on chemical, radiological and hybrid threats as well as weather phenomena.

10.7.2019 | Kyky varautua sään ääri-ilmiöihin on tulevaisuudessa entistä tärkeämpää. Tutkijoiden kehittämän roolipelin avulla viranomaiset voivat harjoitella aiempaa paremmin toimintaansa äärimmäisissä sääilmiöissä. Peliä testataan myös Suomen EU-puheenjohtajakaudella pelastusviranomaisten työpajassa, jossa keskitytään sään ilmiöiden lisäksi kemikaali-, säteily- ja hybridiuhkatilanteisiin.

10.7.2019 | Förmågan att förbereda sig på extrema väderförhållanden blir i framtiden allt viktigare. Genom ett rollspel, som tagits fram av forskare, kan myndigheterna bättre än tidigare öva inför extrema väderförhållanden. Spelet testas också under Finlands EU-ordförandeskap i räddningsmyndigheternas workshop där man utöver på väderfenomen fokuserar på kemikalie-, strålnings- och hybridhot.

25.1.2018 | New act to lay down provisions on crime combating by the Finnish Border Guard

1.9.2022 | The budget proposal for 2023 of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government builds sustainable growth for the future, secures purchasing power and assists people with the hike in electricity prices. The budget proposal responds to the effects of Russia’s war of aggression and inflation, improves safety and security, security of supply, and energy self-sufficiency, and provides further investment in research and development and in the green transition.

24.5.2013 | Football brings people together at reception centres

7.12.2020 | Vuonna 2000 sisäministeriön julkaisusarjassa ilmestyneet julkaisut Ensiaskeleet : - verkkopalveluiden kehittämistilanne ja tulevaisuus julkisessa hallinnossa keväällä 2000 Helsinki : Sisäasiainministeriö, 2000. - 42 s. ISBN 951-734-369-8 (Sisäasia...