Finland's first 21 iGaming licenses cover 12% of offshore demand
Finland's regulator has handed out its first iGaming licenses, but most of the offshore brands Finns search for are still waiting.
By November 6, Finland's National Police Board had granted 21 licenses under the new Gambling Act, 18 of them announced on October 29, held by 12 operator groups and valid from July 1, 2027, when private operators can start offering online casino and betting in competition with state-owned Veikkaus, which keeps its monopoly until then. Dozens of applications are still under review, and processing takes six to eight months.
From January to October 2026, Veikkaus held 55.3% of Blask Index in Finland and offshore brands shared the rest. The brands tied to the 21 licenses took 11.6% of that offshore demand, and Wildz is the only one of them in the offshore top ten. ComeOn Group alone holds six of the licenses, yet its best-placed brand, ComeOn, ranks only 14th among offshore brands.
The Police Board handles applications in the order they arrive, and all 21 licenses went to companies that applied in March, the first month of the window. Unibet filed in May, and the groups behind Paf, NordicBet and Ninja Casino have also applied , so the largest offshore brands are still in the queue.
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