Finland’s latest draft regulations ban online autoplay and enforce maximum slot stakes

Finland’s Ministry of the Interior this week released four new draft regulations under its recently approved Gambling Act. These include various restrictions for the sector, including loss limits and maximum stake caps for players.

These measures, grounded in the recently enacted Gambling Act (10/2026), are set to come into force on 1 July 2027 as part of the market’s iGaming liberalisation Finland’s efforts.

Although up to 50 operator licence applications have been filed in the market so far, lingering uncertainty over player protection measures had been concerning stakeholders over the last few months.

Commenting on the new measures, Hippos ATG chief commercial officer, Antti Koivula, said they were “Restrictive, but not quite Germany. Perhaps not even the Netherlands, at least not yet.”

His comment, made on his LinkedIn page, made reference to the increasingly restrictive nature of the German and Dutch online gambling markets.

“That said, more regulation and regulative guidence to come so keep your fingers crossed,” Koivula added.

A consultation is ongoing, requesting input from the public and industry stakeholders until 5 August 2026. For now these new measures are not set in stone and could be amended, depending on the feedback received during the consultation period.

Online gameplay behaviour

To mitigate harm from electronic slot-style games, the new draft regulations have suggested the following constraints:

• Each spin must be manually initiated and auto-spins or autplay is prohibited. Spins must also last a minimum of 2.5 seconds without player options to shorten animations. 

• Transparency will be required when player choices do not influence random outcomes. Mandatory play-time reminders will come every 15 minutes and these will require player confirmation to continue or log out, except for in player-versus-player casino games.

• Uniform deadlines for claiming prizes are proposed to improve clarity and administration. 

Minimum return-to-player requirements

The government has also set out mandatory return-to-player (RTP) rates for operators, across various game types.

The aim, it said, is to secure consumer returns while allowing regulators to oversee fair play. Slot machines and casino table games will require an RTP rate of 70%-99.9%, while daily-draw betting games will be around 50%-70%. Online betting products must have an RTP of between 55%-80%.

To promote responsible gambling, the proposals also introduced aggregate loss limits and maximum stakes for players, differentiated by game type and player age.

For online slots, players under 25 must adhere to maximum stake limits of €10 per spin, or €20 for older players.

Limits on machines, casinos and operating hours

The draft also suggested daily loss limits of €500 for physical slots, with a monthly loss limit of €2,000 and annual loss limit of €24,000.

Also included were strict caps on gambling venue infrastructure to curb accessibility. This will include slot machines that have 10,000 slots across retail outlets, 2,000 slots within dedicated gaming halls and up to 400 slots within the sole licensed casino in Helsinki.

Gaming halls will be limited to 60 nationwide while table games will be limited to 100 per gaming hall.

Only one land-based casino will be permitted in Helsinki with public access permitted daily from midday to 4am.

This reflects state-owned operator Veikkaus’ new age-based annual and checkpoint loss limits. These include a permissible annual loss of €8,000 for 18-19-year-olds. There will be no annual loss limit for those over 25.