Gambling Law in Finland

Updated: 2025

All forms of gambling, whether offline or online, are monopolized by the state in Finland. Three different organizations oversee specific types of gambling in the country. These same organizations run the only gambling sites in the country that have received the government's "go ahead".

• RAY is the provider for brick-and-mortar gambling across the nation. It has the monopoly for land-based casinos, table games, slot machines, and traditional casino games such as roulette.
• Veikkaus Oy is responsible for the national lottery, sports betting, and instant win games.
• Fintoto Oy is responsible for parimutuel horse racing.

The Aland Province — an autonomous region in Finland consisting of 6,700 islands stretching into the Baltic Sea — has a fourth organization that oversees all gaming. It is called PAF.

Under the direction of the Finnish government, all four of these organizations effectively share gambling among themselves. Profits from gambling activities are reserved for something that all the groups seem to agree is worth funding: projects with some sort of social purpose, such as sporting events, the arts, science, and education.

Officially Licensed Sites

The only legal gambling sites recognized by the Finnish government are operated by PAF and RAY. In the province of Aland, PAF has the exclusive right to operate online gambling, while RAY oversees all gambling operations in mainland Finland.

Finland and the European Union regularly clash over the state monopoly on gambling. The EU demands free trade between member states and sees the state monopoly as too restrictive for foreign operators.

Letters of disapproval concerning the state monopoly have been issued — part of very few disagreements between the European Committee and Finland. Yet they are of some importance, since they highlight long-standing issues with state-controlled markets, particularly in the gambling sector.

Unlicensed Gaming Sites in Finland

It is against the law for foreign gambling sites to accept customers in Finland, but many do. Accepting real money players from Finland is not an obstacle for these sites. To which I would add that it is impossible to stop these sites from doing so.

In addition, there are no criminal laws prohibiting gambling with an unlicensed operator. Therefore, citizens of Finland can gamble at any number of licensed foreign casinos. Some of the largest gaming companies operating on a global scale not only accept customers from Finland, but also provide versions of their websites in both Swedish and Finnish.

Even some of the most legally risk-averse operators in the gambling industry, such as Bet365 and 888, are happy to accept customers from Finland. These sites refuse access to customers from the United States for legal reasons, but they have no problem taking bets from people in Finland.

Finland has made it clear that it wants to eliminate what it calls "illegal gambling". It is doing so by passing new laws that prohibit unlicensed sites from advertising in any Finnish media. This progress is something to keep an eye on, but it does not seem to be having much effect on the ability of Finns to travel to and participate in gambling at unlicensed gambling establishments.

In our view, there is very little risk that Finland will step up its efforts to censor the Internet or enact new banking laws to crack down on what it calls "illegal" online gambling. The EU has already warned Finland that it is going too far. It's hard to see the Finnish government pursuing this line with any kind of intensity when a more relaxed approach makes everyone happier.