Finland taxes gambling on gross gaming revenue, and from July 2027 it will do so at one rate for everyone. The structure is simpler than in many European markets. The rate is not low.
Established in law: 22% of GGR
Licensed operators pay lottery tax at 22% of gross gaming revenue, defined as stakes minus winnings paid to players. The same rate applies to the state-owned operator's exclusive-licence games, so Veikkaus and its new competitors are taxed identically. There is no differentiation by vertical.
The legal basis is the Lottery Tax Act 552/1992 as amended, with effect from 1 July 2027. The rate applying to the monopoly before that is 12%, so the reform raises the effective tax on Finnish gambling substantially while widening the base to include licensed private operators.
Established in law: corporate income tax applies as well
Licensed companies pay standard Finnish corporate income tax on profits, currently 20%, in addition to lottery tax. The reform also removes the corporate income tax exemption the monopoly operator previously held.
Model Finland with two layers: 22% of GGR at the top line, then corporate tax on what remains after costs.
Reported: annual supervision fee, tiered by GGR
Licence holders also pay an annual supervision fee to fund the regulator, tiered by realised gross gaming revenue. Published summaries place the lowest tier at €4,000 for operators below €100,000 GGR. The top tier is reported inconsistently. Figures of €434,000, €400,000 and €265,000 all appear in circulation for operators at the highest revenue band.
We use €434,000 because it appears in the trade reporting we consider most reliable and is corroborated by legal commentary, but the discrepancy is real and we cannot resolve it from published sources. Anyone building a financial model should take the figure from the regulation itself rather than from any secondary summary, including this one. It is one of the open questions we track. Software licence holders are reported to pay at a lower level; see the software licence guide.
The draft regulation establishing supervisory fees completed European Commission notification in 2025.
Reported: player winnings are tax-free
Winnings from games offered under a Finnish licence are understood to be tax-free for the player, regardless of where the licence holder is established, including operators from outside the EU and EEA. Winnings from operators outside the EU and EEA holding no Finnish licence remain taxable income for the player.
If that holds, it is a deliberate channelisation lever and an unusual one in Europe. A player choosing between a licensed and an unlicensed site faces a direct tax consequence, which gives licensed operators an argument that regulation elsewhere does not provide.
Comparison
At 22% of GGR Finland sits above Sweden's 18% and below Denmark's 28% for online casino. It is well below the rates above 40% seen in some markets that have subsequently struggled with channelisation. Combined with the supervision fee and corporate tax, the total burden is meaningful but within the range operators already accept in mature regulated Nordic markets. The €29,000 application fee sits on top.
Status of this guide
The tax rates are set in legislation and are the most reliable figures here. The supervision fee tiers and the treatment of player winnings come from secondary summaries and are labelled as reported. Where those summaries disagree, we say so rather than picking a number quietly.
