Finland is a small market with a small number of people who matter to it. This is who you will encounter, what they do, and what they have actually said on the record. It is not a power list and it is not ranked. Every entry states where the information comes from.
The regulators
Juha Katainen, Senior Adviser, Gambling Administration, National Police Board. The source of the statement that roughly fifty applications had been received by June 2026, that the majority came from companies based outside Finland, and that applications are accepted continuously with no deadline. When the Board speaks about the application process, this is usually the name attached.
Tomi Sallinen, Senior Inspector, National Police Board. The public voice on marketing enforcement. He stated, when the Board prohibited two influencers from gambling marketing with €30,000 conditional fines in September 2025, that a common misconception is that marketing to Finland from abroad is permitted, and that it is not. Anyone planning Finnish marketing should read that sentence twice.
Sari Laitakari, National Police Board. Described the Board's three-step escalation against gambling streamers in 2019: inform, request an explanation, then prohibit with a conditional fine. That escalation is still the pattern.
From 1 July 2027 these functions move to the Finnish Supervisory Agency. Its leadership has not been publicly established in sources we can cite, and we will add names when it is.
The incumbent
Jan Hagelberg, SVP International Business, Veikkaus. Forecast in May 2024 that the first licences would be issued in September 2026, and repeated it when pressed. Our standing article on the first decisions tracks whether that holds. He has also spoken about recruiting from Kindred and PokerStars, which is a useful signal about where Veikkaus thinks its capability gaps are.
Olli Sarekoski, then chief executive of Veikkaus. In September 2022 he said publicly that the monopoly could not meet Finnish demand and that over 60% of online gambling had shifted to unregulated markets. That statement is the origin point of the reform and of our channelisation guide.
The commentator
Jari Vähänen, industry consultant, former senior Veikkaus executive, and chair of Suomalainen Rahapeliyhdistys. The most frequently quoted independent voice on the Finnish market. He estimated that Veikkaus could be worth up to €4.5 billion following liberalisation and said several private firms had expressed interest in acquiring parts of it, which reopened the political debate about state ownership.
A note on reading him: he is a consultant with an industry client base and a former executive of the company he is valuing. That does not make the analysis wrong. It does mean it is analysis rather than disclosure.
The suppliers
Jaakko Soininen, Managing Director, Finnplay. Confirmed in March 2026 that SpinCore Group had submitted a Finnish application and would launch on Finnplay's platform. That statement is currently the clearest example of the pattern we keep returning to: suppliers disclose what operators will not.
The operators
Fredrik Wastenson, Managing Director Nordics, LeoVegas. The first executive to confirm a Finnish application publicly, at NEXT Summit Valletta in May 2026. He said being live on day one was not necessarily critical and that parts of the rulebook still needed clarification. Read against the three conditions that precede trading, the first remark looks less like strategy and more like arithmetic.
Joel Hakamies, General Manager Finland and Estonia, FDJ United / Kindred. Has a named Finland role and has commented publicly on the reform, describing the overall picture as fairly positive and saying that an earlier settled timeline would have helped planning. No application has been confirmed.
Christer Fahlstedt, chief executive of Paf. Told Hufvudstadsbladet in February 2026 that the volume of gambling advertising arriving with the licensed market would not be well received. An unusual position for an operator, and one that reflects Åland's public-benefit ownership structure.
The media and agency side
Anna-Riikka Hovi-Taunila, chief executive, Omnicom Media Group Finland. Source of the estimate that gambling advertising could reach €100 million in the first licensing year, potentially the second-largest category in Finland. An industry forecast, not an official figure, and the single number most often quoted about the commercial size of this opening.
Karri Ahonen, sales director, Sanoma. Has described the media owner's role as controlling which environments gambling operators may advertise in rather than maximising revenue. Sanoma has confirmed it will not become an operator itself.
The lawyers
Finnish gambling law is a small speciality. Antti Koivula of Legal Gaming has been the most visible in public commentary, including on the limits of what Finnish authorities can reach when an offshore casino is involved. Firms publishing substantive guidance include Borenius, Krogerus, Nordic Law, Hannes Snellman and Nordia Law; much of what is reliably known in English about the Act's detail comes from their client briefings rather than from the authority.
The one outside the system
Ossi Ketola is the most internationally visible Finnish figure in gambling and is not part of this market. He founded a skin gambling site and a crypto casino, and his business could not hold a Finnish licence. We cover why that matters anyway separately.
Who is missing
This list is short in two places, and both absences are informative.
There are no named executives from the roughly forty-six applicants nobody can identify. That is the central fact of this market, and it will stay true until licences are granted or companies choose to speak.
And there is nobody yet from the Supervisory Agency, the authority that will run this market from July 2027. When that changes it will be the most significant addition to this page.
Status of this guide
Every statement attributed here is drawn from published sources and is cited below. Roles and titles were current at the date of the statement quoted; people move. Tell us at editor@igamingfinland.fi if an entry is out of date or if someone significant is missing, and we will correct it and log the change.
