Frequently asked questions about applying for licences

The provision of gambling services in Finland will be a licensed activity from 1 July 2027. From that date, operators who have been granted a licence under the Gambling Act will be able to provide gambling services.

From the beginning of July 2027, gambling products may only be sold, marketed, brokered and offered for play by operators with an exclusive licence or a gambling licence.

From the beginning of July 2028, the gaming software used to provide gambling services may only be offered by operators with a gaming software licence.

Operators must apply for a licence for all the aforementioned gambling activities, irrespective of whether they are provided at a physical location or online.

Licences in accordance with the Gambling Act will be granted by the National Police Board in 2026 and the Supervisory Agency from 1 July 2027.

An exclusive licence, as its name implies, gives the holder the exclusive right to provide specific gambling services. This means that licences to operate the gambling service are not granted to any other operators at the same time – the licence is granted to one operator only. There is no limit to the number of gambling licences, and they may be held by several operators at the same time.

A gambling licence can be granted for the provision of various betting games and internet casino games, for example. An exclusive licence can be granted for pools games, lotteries, slot machines and casinos.

A gambling licence may be granted to any legal entity or natural person who meets the fitness and propriety requirements of the Gambling Act. An exclusive licence may only be granted to a limited liability company that is controlled by the Finnish state and that is in the gambling business.

A gambling software licence is a licence to manufacture, supply, install or adapt software for use in gambling services.

You need a gambling software licence to offer software such as:

• Betting software
• Random number generators
• Software used to display gambling results containing gambling data
• Live streaming solutions for live casino gaming events 
• Software for monitoring gambling transactions 
• Software that performs calculations in gambling
• Software that accepts and records gambling transactions
• Software that determines the outcome of a game of chance 
• Software used to calculate and transfer gambling winnings to a gambling account

It will be possible to apply to the Supervisory Agency for a gambling software licence from 1 January 2027.

The gambling software licence will be compulsory from 1 January 2028. After this date, only software from licensed providers may be used to provide gambling services.

You will need an international cooperation licence if you intend to offer gambling services in partnership with one or more other operators, and at least one of those operators does not have a licence in Finland.

A licence can only be granted if all the operators involved in the partnership are known. These entities must have a licence or other legal authorisation to operate gambling services in their areas of operation, and they may not offer gambling services in Finland without the appropriate licence.

You can apply in writing to the National Police Board. You can apply for a licence using the online service, by email or by letter. We recommend that you primarily use the online service. The online service is available via the Regional State Administrative Agency.

No. The supervisory authority will always independently assess whether a licence can be granted under the Finnish Gambling Act.

The application fee for the exclusive licence and the gambling licence will be EUR 29,000.

The fee is set annually in the Decree on Police Fees (LINK). The fee is always charged, irrespective of whether the decision is positive or negative.

An invoice for the application fee will be sent to the billing address indicated in the application when the application becomes pending. The application fee must, therefore, be paid before the decision is made. The application will not proceed if the invoice is unpaid.

Once the licence has entered into force, an annual supervision fee is also charged.

No. The application fee is charged for each application, regardless of whether the decision is positive or negative.

The target processing time for applications is 3–6 months. We will update our website to show the average processing time as soon as possible.

Be aware that applications may take longer than the target time.

The best way to help your case is to complete your application carefully and follow the instructions.

Contact the supervisory authority. You can withdraw your application by sending a written notice by email.

After the authority receives your request for withdrawal, it will take an official decision to close the case.

If the supervisory authority has started processing the application before the request for withdrawal is received, the full application fee will be charged.

A gambling licence can be granted for a maximum of five years.
An exclusive licence is always granted for ten years.

You can choose your desired start date for the licence. Licences can enter into force on 1 July 2027 at the earliest. Licences cannot be granted retroactively.

Not if you are applying for a gambling licence. However, the licence application must specify each planned implementation. You can, therefore, apply for a gambling licence for all the implementations you plan to operate at the same time, irrespective of how many there are.

If you specifically want to apply for several separate gambling licences for different implementations, you may also do so. Please note, however, that an application fee will be charged for each application. In addition, providing gambling services under several separate licences may increase the licence holder’s administrative burden with respect to the obligations associated with the licence.

Applicants for an exclusive licence must apply for separate licences for lotteries and betting games, as well as for slot machines and casino games.

State the known gambling software suppliers on the application form. If you later use different or additional suppliers, submit an amendment notification.

The amendment notification must be submitted to the supervisory authority in writing within two weeks of the change.

A separate licence will be required to provide gambling software from 1 July 2028. It will be possible to apply for a gaming software licence from the Supervisory Agency from the start of July 2027. 

At the very least, describe the marketing methods and channels that will be used to market the games. The marketing methods and channels may include the internet, television, radio, print media, social media, outdoor advertising, sponsorship and event advertising. Also identify all the brand names used in marketing.

The statement should also describe the means and principles used to protect minors and vulnerable people from marketing.

You can also explain other matters or submit, for example, a marketing plan for your gambling services as an attachment to your application. The explanation can be given in free form.

The supervisory authority will use the explanation to guide its supervision measures. This means that the information can be used to plan subsequent guidance and advice. In addition, incomplete or unclear information could be used to plan future audits and other control measures.

You can enter the relevant details in the ‘Additional information’ field of the application form or prepare a separate attachment.

Yes, if the code is a Finnish personal ID code. The Finnish personal ID code enables the supervisory authority to conduct the necessary background checks on the correct person and assess their fitness and propriety. For this reason, the personal ID code is essential.

For a foreign person, other identifying information, such as their date of birth, must be provided if a personal ID code is not available.

You can submit personal data to the National Police Board securely and conveniently using the online service or encrypted email.

Licence applications under the Gambling Act are processed in Finnish or Swedish. If you submit attachments in other languages, the supervisory authority may request translations of these documents, if necessary.

The applicant is responsible for arranging the translation of documents, covering the translation costs, and submitting the translations to the supervisory authority.

Arranging the translation of documents may delay the supervisory authority’s processing of the application. The supervisory authority is not liable for any delays caused by this.

The country of registration affects the number of attachments required. If the operator is established in Finland, the authority can access information in Finnish registers to evaluate the application.

Please carefully note any information that you consider to be confidential in your submission. Specify the information and the grounds for confidentiality.

In principle, documents belonging to an authority are public. This means that the information and attachments submitted for a licence application are public, unless their publicity is specifically restricted by law. The authority will assess whether the information should be public.

At the moment, the National Police Board does not have sufficient certainty that it will receive all the information it needs from other authorities to process the application.

For example, full financial statements are not always available. For this reason, some attachments are mandatory for all applicants, regardless of their status and country of registration.

You can also submit a free-form statement describing the purpose of the applicant's activities in a manner that is similar to articles of association or bylaws. If you are applying as a natural person, provide a free-form description of the purpose of your activities.

The financial statements must include an income statement, balance sheet and notes. If your organisation is obliged to prepare a cash flow statement, submit that too. The financial statements must include comparative information on the income statement, balance sheet and, where applicable, the cash flow statement for the previous financial period. Also submit:

• The financial or operational auditor's report on the financial statements
• Lists of accounts and records
• Balance sheet breakdowns, which specify the content of the accounts

Also, check that the financial statements and the financial or operational auditor's report have been signed.

Attach an equivalent report of your organisation's financial position, such as a cash flow statement or plan. The report must give an adequate picture of your company's economic activity so that it can be assessed as part of the permit application process.

At a minimum, the report should state your estimated turnover, available equity and available debt. The report should include a breakdown of the short-term and long-term liabilities. In addition, the report should describe the significant agreements affecting your company's financial position.

Include an action plan for your gambling activities for the coming year and information on your financial position. At a minimum, provide the following information about your financial position:

• Personal wealth
• Statement of the assets that make up your wealth
• Income accepted in taxation in the previous year 
• Statement of debts 
• Significant agreements that affect your financial position

The purpose of this information is to ensure that the supervisory authority can assess your financial position when considering your licence application. 

Possibly. For example, the required attachments are not a direct obstacle to obtaining a licence.  A newly established operator may attach an action plan instead of an annual report and a financing plan instead of financial statements.

However, before applying for a licence, you should carefully study the legal obligations related to gambling activities. You should then consider whether your company has the financial capacity to provide gambling services and can meet all its obligations.

If you decide to apply for a licence, describe your business and financial position as realistically and comprehensively as possible in the plans you submit with your application. Also be prepared to provide various additional reports if necessary.

When permit applications for newly established companies are considered, the assessment may cover the fitness and propriety of other companies directly and indirectly linked to the applicant. Therefore, if you are applying for a permit for a new company, you should be prepared to submit additional evidence and documents, at least for the companies linked to your business.

The extract from the register certifies that the decision to apply for a licence was taken in line with the rules of the applicant undertaking or body. In practice, the authority uses the extract from the register to check that the person who signed the application or authorisation to apply for the licence has the right to sign on behalf of the applicant.

In addition, the applicant's legal name is checked against the extract from the register to ensure that the licence is issued to the correct entity.

Applicants registered in Finland do not need to submit a registration certificate, as the supervisory authority will receive it with the compliance report.

The supervisory authority is responsible for assessing the fitness and propriety of the applicant's responsible persons when assessing whether to grant a licence. For Finnish citizens and foreigners permanently resident in Finland, the assessment can be based on information from official registers.

In practice, the supervisory authority will use the personal ID codes of the people concerned to check their fines and criminal records and request a compliance report on them.

Unfortunately, the official registers available to the supervisory authority do not contain this information about people who do not have a Finnish personal ID code. For this reason, these people must submit their criminal records and certificates of compliance themselves. 

Fines and criminal records are used to ensure that no person with significant decision-making powers has committed a crime that would make them unfit to operate gambling services.

The certificates of compliance are used to assess whether the responsible persons have fulfilled their legal obligations in the past. The assessment takes into account significant tax defaults, debts in enforcement, and whether the person is bankrupt or disqualified from running a business.

The compliance certificates should make it possible to assess the fitness and propriety of the applicant and its responsible persons in the following areas:

• Whether the applicant or the responsible person is bankrupt 
• Whether the applicant or the responsible person has any debts in enforcement and, if so, how much
• Whether the applicant or the person responsible has any unpaid taxes or other statutory levies
• Whether the applicant or the responsible person is disqualified from doing business

In order to assess these questions, the application must be accompanied by a certificate of the person’s tax debt balance and debt enforcement status and a certificate to clarify whether the applicant or the responsible person is disqualified from doing business. If necessary, other certificates, registers or equivalent official documents can demonstrate fitness and propriety.

All attachments must indicate the name and contact details of the authority that drew up the document in question. The attachments must be up to date (no older than 6 months). This period is assessed according to the date on which the application becomes pending. 

Include an explanation of why a particular certificate or document is not available or why you are unable to obtain it yourself. The supervisory authority will then assess the adequacy of the explanations and the possibility of proceeding with the licence application on a case-by-case basis.

Licence holders must use certain digital services provided by the supervisory authority to enable the technical supervision of gambling. These services include the self-exclusion register and the supervisory authority’s Official Control Signing Service (OCSS). All holders of a gambling licence or exclusive licence must implement direct integrations with these services.

In addition, holders of a gambling licence or an exclusive licence must implement a separate data repository (a data vault) from which the supervisory authority can retrieve game transaction and account data for the gambling services provided.

You can begin taking steps to implement the integrations and the separate data repository once the licence has been granted. Once the licence is granted, the authority will send you the documentation you need to implement the integrations and access to the testing environment.

An amendment application should be submitted whenever a matter mentioned in the licence decision is due to change. Practical examples of this include introducing a new implementation or changing the licence holder’s official name. In these situations, the licence conditions must be amended by a new decision. The decision to amend a licence is taken when the licence holder submits an application.

An amendment notification is, as its name implies, just a notification. An amendment notification is usually made when the subject of the amendment is something that is mentioned in the licence application but not in the actual licence decision. For example, when a responsible person changes: a notification should be submitted for new board and management team members, but there is no need to apply for an amendment.

For an amendment application, you will receive an appealable administrative decision, and a separate processing fee is charged. For notifications, no separate processing decision is made, and there is no charge for processing the notification. 

The licence cannot be sold or assigned to another person. 
If control of a legal entity holding a licence is transferred as a result of an ownership, contractual or other arrangement, an amendment notification must be submitted. An amendment notification must be made in writing within two weeks of the transfer of control.

When an amendment notification is submitted, the Authority will assess whether the licence holder still satisfies the conditions for operating gambling services according to the law after the transfer of control. The authority may also request further clarification, if necessary.

Yes. However, if the licence holder changes its name, the licence decision must be amended to reflect the new name. In other words, you should submit an amendment application to the supervisory authority to request that the name be changed on the licence.

No. If you want to continue providing gambling services beyond the term of the licence, you must apply for a new licence in good time.

If you apply for a new licence at least six months before your previous one expires, you can continue providing gambling services without interruption, even if the authority has not yet finished processing the new application.