Finland notifies EU of technical rules for central gambling self-exclusion register

Finland has notified the European Commission of proposed technical rules for connecting licensed gambling operators to a central self-exclusion register. The National Police Board's lotteries and gambling administration prepared the proposal as part of Finland's gambling reform and introduction of a licensing system.

Under the new law, players will be able to exclude themselves from all gambling for monetary prizes that requires registration. Licensed operators must check the central service before allowing players to gamble and cannot allow self-excluded players to take part in the affected activities.

The proposal sets out how operators must query the supervisory authority's system, including request formats, interface responses and error notifications. The service can be integrated with different types of gambling platform provided they can handle verification requests to the required specifications.

Article 45(4) of Finland's gambling law gives the supervisory authority power to set further technical requirements for connecting to its control system, of which the register will form part. The proposal would give the authority tools to monitor the system and respond to faults. A log of operations and checks would support the electronic verification of self-exclusions.

Industry operators and experts submitted comments and requests for clarification during consultation on the draft. The submissions led to changes intended to clarify obligations and keep the text within the delegated regulatory powers. A provision requiring periodic register checks during gambling was removed.

The notification's standstill period ends on 15 February 2027. The new licensing regime is expected to take effect on 1 July 2027.