The Gambling Act 10/2026 did not come into force all at once. It arrives in stages, and the staging is the reason a company can hold a Finnish licence in 2026 and still be unable to take a bet.
How it became law
Parliament adopted the Act and the related legislation on 16 December 2025. The President of the Republic confirmed them on 16 January 2026, at which point they entered the statute book as Act 10/2026.
The parliamentary process ran later than the government had hoped. The bill was submitted in spring 2025 with the expectation of a decision before the summer recess; it was carried over to the autumn, largely because of constitutional questions and disagreement about the implementation timetable. The delay moved the market opening from the beginning of 2027 to 1 July 2027, and the software licence obligation to 1 July 2028.
What came into force on 1 March 2026
Only part of the Act. Chapters 2 and 9 took effect, together with sections 43(3), 44, 57, 63 and 64. That is the machinery required to run an application process: the licence types, the application procedure, the fees and the authority's powers to process them.
Everything else waited. The provisions governing the actual provision of gambling services, marketing, and the day-to-day supervisory framework remained dormant.
What comes into force on 1 July 2027
The Act in full. From that date licensed operators may provide gambling services, marketing becomes permitted within the restrictions the Act sets, the Finnish Supervisory Agency replaces the National Police Board as the competent authority, and applications open for gambling software licences.
Until then Veikkaus Oy holds the monopoly on providing gambling services, and no other company may operate or market gambling in mainland Finland.
What comes into force on 1 July 2028
The obligation on licensed operators to use only software supplied by holders of a Finnish gambling software licence. This is the last dated milestone in the reform and the one most likely to catch suppliers.
What the Act opens, and what it does not
Opened to competition: betting games, online slot and online casino games, online money bingo, and horse-race betting.
Retained under an exclusive licence held by a state-owned company: lottery-type games, scratchcards, physical slot machines, and land-based casino games.
An operator planning a Finnish entry should read that division carefully. It is narrower than the headline "Finland opens its gambling market" suggests, and the retained verticals are among the most profitable in the current Finnish market.
Why the staging matters commercially
The gap between holding a licence and being able to trade is where most of the operational risk sits. A licence granted in, say, early 2027 confers nothing until July, and in the meantime the operator must complete independent verification and regulator integration. Those obligations sit under provisions that are already law.
Status of this guide
The dates and the staged entry into force are established in the Act and in the Ministry of the Interior's published material. The specific provisions listed as effective from 1 March 2026 are drawn from published legal commentary; verify them against the consolidated text on Finlex before relying on them.
