Key Points
- Six fines were ordered in 2026, and guess what? Every single one of those orders was against some poor soul on their own.
- Companies got threatened with fines of up to €1.2 million, but still not a single one of them got nailed with a payment order this year.
- Some marketing foul-ups can actually end up counting against applicants trying to get a licence to operate in Finland’s open market next year.
Finland Threatens €1.2m Gambling Ad Fines, but Only Individuals Get Their Hands Caught
When you hear a fine of €1.2 million, you can bet big companies are going to be thinking twice about their marketing. In Finland, this year, though, none of them actually got hit with one.
On 14 October 2026, the National Police Board’s latest enforcement update came out, and in it they mentioned four ban decisions and six fines for breaking the rules on gambling advertising, but guess what? All six of those fines ordered to be paid out were to individuals. They didn’t even name the culprits.
Six Payment Orders, All Against Joe Bloggs
The fines themselves, €30,000 to €200,000 for individuals, looked pretty, pretty heavy, but the threats against companies looked a lot scarier, €100,000 to €1.2 million.
Now, the payments, all six went to individuals, ranging from €20,000 to €100,000.
Need to keep in mind that having an order to pay doesn’t necessarily mean the money has actually changed hands, and the board didn’t give us any numbers on how much they collected. And on top of that, they just mentioned that this year’s figures were way higher than the previous ones, but didn’t actually publish the old numbers.
Three of the four marketing prohibitions were for websites and social media, this kind of thing the board says is typically found on social media and in gaming and live streams.
A Fine That’s More Like a Warning Than a Punishment
Juhani Wallinvirta, Head of Group at the National Police Board, explained their reasoning behind these fines. “The conditional fine is not supposed to be some kind of punishment, but more a means to make sure the rules get followed and that the marketing stops dead in its tracks, it’s just a tool to encourage compliance.”
In other words, the fine sits behind a ban and only becomes payable if that ban gets ignored. And each fine is based on how bad the breach was, and how much the accused can afford to pay.
The board uses this tactic when all the warnings and threats in the world don’t seem to be enough, and the marketing still keeps on going.
Streamers and Betsson’s Subsidiary Were the First to Fall
We’ve been hearing a lot about online promoters being put in line for more than a year now. In September 2025, the Finnish Government sounded the alarm on gambling ads in live game streams, the kids are a particular worry, apparently.
Johanna Syväterä, senior advisor, called affiliate marketing one of the most common ways people are breaking the rules, and as an example she said it’s as simple as sharing gambling links through the chat during a live game stream.
And that’s the same month the board came down hard on three influencers, they were mostly about Twitch and Kick activity. As iGaming Times will show you, two got a €30,000 fine, while one was ordered to pony up €30,000.
What Is Added by the 2027 Licensing Rules?
Betting, online casino and online bingo are allowed to operate under a licence in Finland from 1 July 2027. There are 75 licensing applications by 22 September, compared to 50 applications in June.
It is here that the present-day enforcement affects the future market. Section 10 of the new Gambling Act imposes reliability requirements which need to be fulfilled by all applicants.
As specified by Borenius in its guidance document, one of the requirements concerns prohibitions or sanctions imposed for advertising in breach of the Lotteries Act. Only violations within two years preceding the examination are considered, and only those which have occurred after 1 September 2024.
The same requirement applies to board members, senior managers and any individual having at least 25% of shares in the applicant company. Any qualifying prohibition against an applicant, or against related persons may have a weighty negative effect on a license. It remains unclear whether any of the four prohibitions for 2026 issued by the board is imposed on an applicant.
Also, there is a new sanction, independent of conditional fines, provided by the new Act. Sanctions for serious violations may reach 4% of last year’s turnover, up to €5 million, and at least €10,000.
Marketing by the licence-holders will be restricted to an exclusive list of channels. Promotion through affiliates and influencers will be excluded from that list.
Payment Blocks Are Favoured by Split Public Opinion
There is weak support for enhanced means in public opinion. A survey conducted in April 2026 by Bilendi among 1,000 Finns, commissioned by affiliate website Turtlebet, showed that 32% selected payment blocks as the first option.
Payment blocks were the leading option but not a majority opinion. 26% were in favour of improved licensed offers, 11% chose IP blocks, and 29% expressed uncertainty.
In Denmark, things go differently. The Danish Gambling Authority’s 2025 report shows that 334 illegal gambling sites have been blocked by judicial order. Website blocks and Finnish prohibition decisions are distinct tools, so their statistics cannot be compared.
Expert Opinion: Are the €1.2 Million Fines from Finland a Sign Rather than a Fine?
We consider that the most important figure in the latest news release is not the €1.2 million mentioned above but rather the fact that there are no operators required to pay anything at all.
The meaning of the statistics provided by the Finnish authorities seems pretty clear to us – the biggest fines remain at the moment just warnings, while the payment orders have been issued only to private individuals in 2026.
Proponents can argue that this is how it should work; a company cannot continue marketing after the ban comes into force, and the case of the BML Group shows that the board can use the sanctions to affect the biggest operator.
However, we still have some doubts about the situation; there was no explanation as to why all of the fines were imposed on individuals only.
Besides, we would appreciate it if the board supported its own claim by providing the previous data.
In our opinion, there is one very strong sanction; obtaining the operating license.
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