ComeOn and SuomiVeto Take Finland's Announced Gambling Licences to Four

European Entertainment Group's ComeOn and the Helsinki newcomer SuomiVeto say Finland's National Police Board has licensed them for the market that opens on 1 July 2027, joining Hippos ATG and Wildz. SuomiVeto has published its licence number and decision date, while the board has yet to publish a list of licensees.

• European Entertainment Group (EEG) said on 22 October that its subsidiary ComeOn Group had been granted every Finnish licence it applied for, for online casino and sports betting from 1 July 2027
• SuomiVeto, founded by the team behind the Dutch operator BetCity.nl, says the board granted it licence RALU/2027/L111 on 22 October for all six competitive game types, valid until 30 June 2032
• The two join Wildz Group and Hippos ATG, making four operators that have publicly confirmed Finnish awards, according to a Gaming Intelligence tally
• Both companies say they applied on 2 March 2026, so SuomiVeto's decision came near the end of the six-to-eight-month processing time the board gave when it had 75 applications and had decided none
• Every award announced so far rests on the operators' own statements, and the Gambling Act's duty to keep a public list of licence holders applies only from 1 July 2027

ComeOn and SuomiVeto Join the First Wave of Finnish Licensees

European Entertainment Group AB, the Swedish parent of ComeOn, said on 22 October that its subsidiary ComeOn Group had been awarded "all gambling licences it applied for" by Finland's National Police Board (Poliisihallitus), according to the group's statement. The licences are for online casino and sports betting from the market's opening. EEG said ComeOn applied on 2 March 2026, which it called the first day of the application window, and was "among the first operators granted licences". It gave no licence number, decision date or term. Chief executive Itai Frieberger called the award "an important milestone", and chief financial officer Raffaele Amodio said Finland is "a core part of our growth strategy" that supports the group's "continued commitment to the 100% regulated revenue".

SuomiVeto Oy disclosed more. Its statement, also dated 22 October, says the board granted it licence RALU/2027/L111 that day, valid throughout Finland from 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2032. The company says the licence includes all six game types it sought: the Act's two forms of betting, virtual betting, online casino games, online bingo and online slots. According to SuomiVeto, the board found that the applicant, its owners and its management meet the reliability and suitability requirements of section 10 of the Gambling Act. It says it applied on 2 March with Legal Gaming, the law firm led by Minna Ripatti, as adviser, and that it will neither offer nor market gambling before the market opens. Chief executive Melvin Bostelaar, appointed on 22 October, called the licence "the beginning of an exciting new chapter".

SuomiVeto does not name its owners. Bostelaar and co-founder Joey Singels built BetCity.nl, which Bostelaar says they sold four years ago and which CasinoBeats reports went to Entain. Kambi signed a long-term turnkey sportsbook agreement with SuomiVeto in February, describing it as a new operator preparing for the regulated market without mentioning a licence. SuomiVeto says Bragg supplies its player account system and casino games.

Four Awards Announced, None Yet Listed by the Regulator

The two awards bring to four the operators that have publicly confirmed Finnish licences, according to a Gaming Intelligence tally cited by CasinoBeats. Malta-based Wildz Group was first, saying on 15 October that it held a five-year licence from 1 July 2027. Hippos ATG, owned equally by the Swedish operator ATG and the Finnish trotting federation Suomen Hippos, said on 19 October that it had been licensed for horse betting, sports betting and online casino, and that 60% of its profit will go to Finnish horse sport. Neither its release nor ComeOn's gives a licence number.

Each award rests on the company's own statement. CasinoBeats reports that the approvals have come from the operators rather than from a published regulator list, and iGaming Times found no list of licensees from the board. On 22 September the board had 75 applications, each carrying a €29,000 processing fee in 2026, and had decided none. The Act's duty to keep a public, machine-readable list of licence holders applies from 1 July 2027, when the new Finnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto) takes over from the board.

Under the reform, Veikkaus keeps its exclusive rights to lotteries, scratchcards and land-based slots and casino games, while betting and online casino open to competition, according to the law firm Borenius. Licensees will pay lottery tax of 22% of gross gaming revenue. Veikkaus set up two subsidiaries in May, one for its exclusive business and one for the competitive market, and applied for licences for both, it said in its half-year report. Its digital channel produced 64.5% of its gross gaming revenue in the first half of 2026.

The First Licences Are Going to the Day-One Applicants

SuomiVeto's decision came seven months and 20 days after its application, at the far end of the six-to-eight-month window the board gave in September. Both decisions with a known application date come from day one, and 24 applications arrived in March and 23 in May, according to figures the board gave the public broadcaster Yle. If the board keeps that pace, May applicants would hear early in 2027, and an operator filing now would get its answer within weeks of launch. Finland sets no cap on licences, so being early buys time rather than exclusivity: eight months to secure payment partners, test platforms and plan marketing. Against an incumbent that already takes most of its revenue online, that preparation time is the only head start on offer.

SuomiVeto Has Set a Disclosure Standard the Others Have Not Met

SuomiVeto is the only one of the four to publish a licence number, a decision date, an expiry date and the game types included. It reports that its owners passed the section 10 reliability test without naming them, so the regulator knows who stands behind the brand and the public does not. ComeOn's "all gambling licences it applied for" leaves open whether it holds one licence or several, since an operator can file separate applications by game type, each with its own fee. Until the register exists, banks, media partners and players must rely on press releases to tell licensed brands from unlicensed ones, and the board's enforcement against illegal gambling marketing shows how much that line matters in Finland.

ComeOn Enters Without One of the Group's Own Tools

For EEG, Finland is a test of Amodio's regulated-revenue commitment at a time when total operating revenue fell 2% to €89.2 million in the second quarter, according to its interim report summary. The group also owns the game studio Yggdrasil, Highlight Games and the performance-marketing business Game Lounge. The new Act bans affiliate and influencer marketing of gambling, according to Borenius, so the group's own lead-generation arm cannot be one of ComeOn's routes to Finnish players. ComeOn will have to win them through the narrow channels the Act permits, against a state-owned incumbent with decades of brand recognition, and pay the same 22% tax.

Finland's licensing is now producing decisions at the pace the board promised, at least for those who filed first. What it has not produced is a public record, and until it does, four company statements are the market's only register.