The most internationally visible Finnish figure in gambling is not an executive at Veikkaus or a founder of a platform company preparing for July 2027. He is a 28-year-old from Sastamala who built a Counter-Strike skin gambling site, founded a crypto casino, plays poker for eight-figure sums on camera, and has twice this year been at the centre of events condemned across the industry.
Ossi Ketola, known online as Monarch, is not applying for a Finnish licence and his business could not hold one. That is precisely why he is a B2B story for this market rather than a tabloid one.
The business
Ketola founded CSGOEmpire, a Counter-Strike skin gambling site, and is the founder and publicly identified owner of Duel.com, a crypto casino whose stated legal operator is a separate entity. His companies are private and file nothing public; published estimates of his wealth range from tens of millions of euros to figures that cannot be reconciled with anything auditable. We do not repeat a number.
Poker is the marketing channel. Ketola has played high-stakes matches against Patrik Antonius, Dan Cates, Alex Foxen and Doug Polk, and on 11 September 2026 beat Antonius for a reported $10 million in what was billed as the largest televised heads-up match staged. He is the majority owner of the casino those streams promote, and Finnish poker commentators have described the spending as a marketing plan rather than a hobby.
Why he could not be licensed in Finland
Cryptocurrency payments are reported as not permitted under the Gambling Act. A crypto casino is therefore outside the Finnish licensed market by construction, not by choice.
Beyond that, the application requires the authority to assess the reliability of the persons responsible, using criminal and fine record extracts, and requires a marketing plan. The marketing restrictions prohibit, on published legal commentary, affiliate marketing, influencer promotion and content that normalises excessive play. The promotional model described above is the model the Act is written to exclude.
Two events the industry condemned
In May 2026, a live blackjack broadcast on Duel.com featured a dealer in Nazi German military uniform and another performer presenting a Jewish caricature while a player waved an Israeli flag. The broadcast drew wide criticism on social media and within the gambling industry, and was cited as an example of the ethical problems in gambling marketing.
In August 2026, a combat sports event staged in Orlando under the Duel Arena name, supported by Duel.com, matched a content creator known for racist and antisemitic material against a Jewish content creator. After the bout the former performed a Nazi salute and made antisemitic remarks, and a swastika flag was visible in the crowd. The event was widely condemned.
There is an earlier incident on the record. In March 2024, during a Counter-Strike major in Copenhagen, protesters stormed the stage and the trophy was destroyed. Ketola organised and paid for the disruption as part of a dispute with a rival skin gambling site sponsoring one of the teams, and livestreamed himself planning it. The tournament organiser said it would press criminal charges, the organiser of his own sponsored event cut ties, and three teams withdrew from it. CSGOEmpire apologised.
We record these because they are documented and because they were condemned, not to amplify the content. We do not describe it further than is necessary to explain what happened.
Why this matters commercially
Four reasons a company entering Finland should have read this.
Reputational spillover is a sector cost. Finland is opening a market whose entire political justification is harm prevention and responsibility. International coverage that attaches the words "Finnish" and "gambling" to antisemitic content does not distinguish between a Sastamala-founded crypto casino and a licensed operator in Helsinki. Every licensed entrant inherits some of that.
It strengthens the case for the restrictions. Operators who regard Finland's advertising rules as disproportionate should understand what Finnish legislators have been watching while drafting them. The rules are a response to an observable marketing culture, not an abstraction. Anyone hoping for them to loosen after the market opens should read the last two years first.
Adjacency is a due diligence question. Suppliers, payment providers, affiliates and sponsorship sellers are approached by well-funded offshore operators. A Finnish licence applicant's application names its software providers, and the authority assesses the reliability of the people involved. Commercial relationships that are unremarkable in one market can be a licensing problem in another.
Combat sports, again. This is the second time in two months that a gambling brand has used a fight night as a marketing vehicle, after the Finnish cases we covered. Licensed operators will want sponsorship in this category from July 2027, and will be doing it under rules that permit brand visibility and little else, in a category that has recently produced these headlines.
Status of this article
The events described are as reported in Finnish public reference sources and Finnish gambling and poker media, and were widely covered internationally. The March 2024 incident includes a statement by a tournament organiser that it would press criminal charges; we have not established the outcome of any proceedings and do not assert one. Ketola has not been reported as applying for a Finnish licence, and we make no such claim. Duel.com, CSGOEmpire and the events named are commercial parties and are not linked. Wealth estimates circulating publicly are not verifiable from company filings and are not repeated here.
