In light of Finland’s upcoming new licensing regime, the government has launched a study into the feasibility of scratch cards as gifts.

Led by the Ministry of Interior, the study will investigate the possibility of buying a scratch card on behalf of another person and how applicable it would be for that person to claim the winnings afterwards, and will last until 31 March.

This falls in line with the ongoing assessment of the reforms introduced to Finland’s Lottery Act in 2024, which saw scratch cards being subjected to the mandatory ID checks for all gambling products offered by the current monopoly state operator Veikkaus Oy.

The Act’s review itself is part of the new gambling framework approved by Parliament in December 2025 to make way for the historic launch of Finland’s license market on 1 July 2027. Discussions concluded that the Lottery Act should be reassessed as well so that scratch cards can be used in the way described above.

Spotlight on player protection

Another key stepping stone to ushering Finland into a new gambling era is the recommendations by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on player protection, which has organised a dedicated assessment group to monitor and assess the running of gambling games when it comes to harms and risks.

The work of the assessment group began back in 2016, but will continue on with double the efforts to analyse the new gambling system in place.

It is of utmost importance for all operators and licence applicants looking to enter Finland to consult with the recommendations made by the group, as while they are not a legal necessity – this will be confirmed with the new regulator in the face of the Finnish Supervisory Agency – they do provide a detailed description of the general statutory obligations relating to gambling harm.

“The obligation to protect the player by providing tools or targeting measures does not in all respects even require that the player belongs to a risk group,” the document establishes. 

“Rather, the starting point is the broad-based protection of players or the duty of care. This emphasis on proactive and preventive action requires broad-based duty-of-care measures.”

More safer play guidelines from the Ministry of Health include a stringent approach to loss limits incorporated into land-based machines, interestingly more stringent than those seen across online slots. Limits should be set at either a daily, monthly, or an annual basis.

Furthermore, operators should be able to provide players with a centralised view of their gambling spend, with the data being transmitted to the government and the regulator.

The Finnish market is set to open up in 2027, with the monopoly held by Veikkaus due to be replaced by a multi-licence market. Veikkaus will retain exclusive rights to land-based gaming and lotteries.

There are still some uncertainties around the market’s regulation, particularly around marketing. Finnish policymakers are now making the case for player protection to be put on an even higher pedestal.