Finland is opening its gambling market and closing most of the marketing playbook operators use elsewhere. Anyone planning a Finnish launch should read the advertising rules before the commercial model, not after.
A note on sourcing before the detail. The Ministry of the Interior states that marketing is permitted subject to the restrictions laid down in the Gambling Act, and that until 1 July 2027 no company other than the monopoly holder may operate or market gambling in mainland Finland. Those two points are official. The specific prohibitions set out below come from published legal commentary on the Act rather than from the authority's own summary, and we label them as such.
Official: no marketing at all before 1 July 2027
Marketing gambling in mainland Finland is currently permitted only for Veikkaus. Licence applicants may not advertise, run acquisition campaigns, or promote gambling products to Finnish consumers before the Act enters into force in full.
Corporate communications, recruitment and B2B activity are a different matter, but anything consumer-facing needs Finnish legal review before July 2027.
Official: marketing is permitted after that, within limits
From 1 July 2027 licensed operators may market gambling, subject to the restrictions in the Act. The Finnish Supervisory Agency enforces those restrictions and can act against breaches, including by ordering illegal marketing to stop under threat of a conditional fine. Its decisions are public.
Reported: brand yes, product restricted
Legal commentary indicates that operators will be able to market their brands while advertising of individual casino games and specific gambling products is restricted. In practice this pushes spend toward brand building, sponsorship and presence rather than the product-led performance advertising common elsewhere.
Reported: affiliate marketing is prohibited
This is the provision with the largest structural consequence, and it is consistently described across published legal summaries: Finland is not permitting affiliate marketing of gambling services. Influencer-led promotion is also reported as expressly prohibited, and podcast collaborations as not permitted.
If that holds, operators entering Finland cannot rely on the affiliate channel that drives a substantial share of acquisition in most European markets, and affiliate businesses built on Finnish traffic face a fundamental question about their model. Given the commercial weight of this point, we would treat it as decision-critical and verify it directly rather than relying on any secondary summary, including ours. It is one of the questions we regard as not fully settled.
Reported: channel restrictions
Telemarketing is described as banned outright. Direct marketing is reported to require the player's prior active consent. Marketing is limited to prescribed channels, with particularly strict treatment of anything reaching minors.
Reported: mandatory elements and tone
Advertisements are to carry K-18 age marking and responsible gambling messaging, which in practice means signposting services such as Peluuri. Campaigns may not target minors or vulnerable groups, may not portray gambling as a solution to personal problems, and may not normalise excessive play.
Reported: sponsorship
Sponsorship is permitted for general brand visibility but not for direct promotion of gambling activity. Junior sports and any placement aimed at under-18s are excluded.
Reported: bonuses
Published summaries describe standardised bonus rules: uniform terms for all players, wagering requirements capped at five times the bonus amount, and prohibition of large deposit-based promotions and tiered VIP programmes. Public welcome offers are not expected to be permitted.
What this means commercially
Finnish media and advertising industry estimates have put gambling advertising at up to €100 million in the first licensing year, potentially the second-largest advertising category in the country. That figure is an industry forecast, not an official projection. Our report on the forecast sets out who made it and what media owners such as Sanoma have said about carrying the spend.
Both things can be true: significant spend, narrow permitted forms. Operators treating Finland as a media-buying race are likely to misread it. The channel mix that works will look more like brand advertising in a regulated consumer category than like gambling acquisition.
Status of this guide
Secondary legislation continues to develop and no enforcement practice exists yet, because the marketing provisions are not in force. Treat this as an orientation to the shape of the rules, and note which statements above are official and which are reported.
