Finland’s new gambling regime might introduce the opportunity for lottery players to buy scratch cards as gifts.
As the Nordic country’s brand new licensed gambling regime slowly takes shape to launch in 2027, the Ministry of Interior is acting on calls from Parliament to review Finland’s Lottery Act and the provisions it includes around scratch cards. The Ministry’s assessment on the above will continue until 31 March.
Amendments to the Act introduced in 2024 saw scratch cards subjected to the mandatory ID verification checks that were imposed on all other gambling products offered by the state monopoly operator Veikkaus Oy.
With the framework for the new Gambling Act approved in Parliament in 2025, policymakers also requested a review of the Lottery Act, specifically around the possibility of players buying scratch cards on behalf of someone else and the payouts then being collected by whoever has received the gift.
Once the new regime takes place, a new regulatory authority in the face of the Finnish Supervisory Agency will be put in charge of the market.
Additionally, the current monopoly of Veikkaus will be abolished, making way for international operators to take up market share – which the operator itself has publicly backed more than once in the past.
However, this will only apply to online gambling, with Veikkaus retaining exclusive rights to operate land-based gaming and lotteries.
Player safety still comes first
Other key developments in preparation for the market launch include a review of problem gambling policies, led by Finland’s Health Ministry. A specially assigned assessment group under the Ministry’s remit has put out safe play recommendations that outline what licence holders should expect moving forward.
While not legally binding, it is expected that the new Gambling Act framework – which will continue to be updated until the market launches in 2027 – will be advised by the Health Ministry’s recommendations.
Some of these guidelines include loss limits for implementation by operators, to be imposed either daily, monthly, or annually. Players are to be given a centralised look into their gambling expenditure, with the data to be relayed back to the regulator.
Another key aspect to be discussed and settled over the coming months will be advertising and how regulations around that need to look like once operators hit the ground running in Finland.