Finland's licensed market was not conjured by the government alone. Four years before the Gambling Act took effect, seven international operators formed a Finnish trade association to argue for exactly the system that now exists.
Rahapeliala ry was founded in 2022 by Betsson, ComeOn Group, Entain, Flutter, Kindred Group, LeoVegas and William Hill. bet365 also appears among its members. Its stated objective was a framework in which stable and responsible operators could apply for a licence under Finnish law, comply with requirements on problem gambling, and pay tax in Finland.
That is a close description of the Gambling Act 10/2026.
Why the membership list is worth reading
The regulator does not publish applicant names, which has produced a cottage industry of speculative lists. Those lists are assembled by reasoning about which operators have Nordic infrastructure and regulatory experience. The reasoning is often sound and it is still inference.
This list is different in one specific way: it is documented. These eight companies put their names to a Finnish lobbying organisation and campaigned publicly for the market to open. That is a declared interest, on the record, with a date attached.
What it is not is evidence of an application. Only LeoVegas among them has confirmed filing, and it did so in its own words at a conference rather than through the association. The other seven may have applied, may be about to, or may have decided against it. We do not know, and neither does anyone else publishing a list.
The distinction we are drawing
Our Licence Tracker holds four records. Our company directory now holds twenty-six organisations, including all eight association members, each carrying a profile that states plainly whether an application is confirmed.
Those are two different things and we keep them separate. A directory entry records what a company is and what it has done in relation to this market. A tracker record asserts that a company has applied for a licence, and that assertion requires a source.
Membership of a lobbying organisation belongs in the first category. Reading it as the second is the error that produces lists of twenty confident names, most of which will turn out to be right, some of which will not, and none of which anyone can check.
Two associations, similar names
One point of confusion is worth clearing up, because we made the mistake ourselves. Finland has two gambling associations with English names that translate almost identically.
Rahapeliala ry is the operator trade body described above. Suomalainen Rahapeliyhdistys, which uses the English name Finnish Gambling Association, is a separate organisation for industry experts and stakeholders, chaired by Jari Vähänen, the former Veikkaus executive whose €4.5 billion valuation of his old employer has been widely reported.
Anyone reading English-language coverage of this market should check which one is meant. We have corrected our own records and logged it.
