Ministry of Interior supplements Finland gambling fees with police services

The Finland Ministry of Interior has chosen to supplement licence fees related to the country’s forthcoming online gambling market with services provided by the country’s police force as part of the new Gambling Act. 

The fees will be charged to operators which apply for an exclusive licence, a gambling licence and an authorisation for international cooperation for the holder of such licences. If the licence were to be altered in any way, additional charges will also be issued to the respective operator. 

Applications for both an exclusive licence and gambling licence which allow for operators to enter Finland’s new online gambling market can be submitted to the National Police Board beginning on 1 March 2026. 

The licences are set to cost €29,000 ($34,500) for operators, while fees for any alterations to the exclusive and gambling licences will cost €1,120. According to the Ministry of Interior, the National Police Board of Finland will then issue further instructions to applicants on additional licence procedures. 

Operators which are granted the licences will be eligible to offer and market services when Finland’s Gambling Act goes into effect on 1 July 2027. 

Through 30 June 2027, the National Police Board will act as the “licensing authority” of Finland’s new online gambling market, after which the Finnish Supervisory Authority will assume licensing and regulatory responsibility. 

The decree to supplement fees related to gambling with services provided by the Finnish police force will go into effect on 1 March 2026, and remain in force through December. 

The Finnish Supervisory Authority will also be responsible for ordering the removal of illegal online content and domain names of non-compliant sites to restrict consumer access to the platforms.

Finland’s new regulatory body will be funded directly by gambling operations, including payments for annual supervision fees which are tiered based on respective gross gaming revenues.