Finland’s National Police Board approves 18 of 81 gambling licence applications
Licences & markets2 min read
In brief
- Finland's NPB has received 81 licence applications and approved 18 so far, up from 70 applications in September.
- The 18 approved entities comprise nine operators, including ComeOn Group with six licences.
- Processing currently takes an estimated six to eight months, the NPB said.
- Licences allow launch from 1 July 2027; the NPB will grant them until June 2027.
Finland's National Police Board (NPB) has received 81 applications for licences in the country's upcoming regulated gambling market and has approved 18 of them so far, the regulator said. The figure is up from 70 applications in September. Licences will allow operators to launch in the market from 1 July 2027.
The 18 approved entities comprise nine operators, several of which hold more than one licence. ComeOn Group accounts for six certificates: Cloudberry, KuuFlip, Nivei Ursi, RocketLily, SixthSpin and YTBlue. Nordplay Group holds three (Buccone Trading, Roi Roger and UnionJack) and Blixx Gaming holds three (Benelongs, Pot Luck Club and Stare Straight). Wildz Group holds one (Granturo Finland), as do Superbet Group (Sunflower Gaming), SkillOnNet (Skill On Net), Amber Entertainment / 7bet (Amber Entertainment Finland), ATG/Suomen Hippos (Hippos ATG) and SuomiVeto (SuomiVeto).
Among the 18 approved entities are both companies already operating internationally and newcomers set up specifically for this market. The latter group covers Hippos ATG, a joint venture between ATG and the Finnish trotting association, and SuomiVeto, which the founders of BetCity.nl created.
The NPB estimates that processing a licence application currently takes between six and eight months. Senior adviser Juho Puisto of the NPB's Gambling Administration said the board checks each applicant against the criteria in the Gambling Act and can obtain most background information on Finnish applicants from national registers. Most applicants are foreign companies, he said, and in those cases supplying the required official reports and attachments is the applicant's responsibility.
Puisto said the pending applications are comprehensive and that documents from authorities in different countries vary widely in content and presentation, which typically requires the board to ask applicants for supplementary details or explanations. The board also asks applicants to expand their descriptions of their own operations where necessary, which affects processing times, he said.
The NPB said it expects further applications and will grant licences until June 2027, when its responsibilities will pass to the Finnish Supervisory Agency.
- Licence applications received
- 81
- Licences approved to date
- 18
- Applications received in September
- 70
“The National Police Board investigates for each applicant whether they fulfil the criteria provided for in the Gambling Act. For Finnish applicants, we can obtain most of their background information from national registers.”
- Scheduled
NPB stops granting licences; responsibilities pass to the Finnish Supervisory Agency
- Scheduled
Operators holding licences may launch in the Finnish market
Cite as: SectorWire, “Finland’s National Police Board approves 18 of 81 gambling licence applications”, https://sectorwire.news/item/finland-s-national-police-board-approves-18-of-81-gambling-licence-app/