Online gambling in Finland has been legal since 1996 when Veikkaus Oy became the first licensed operator to offer real money online gambling services. Next, it was Veikkaus Oy, the Finnish National Lottery, and Fintoto Oy, a horse racing-specific pari-mutuel betting operator. Finland’s first Slot Machine Association RAY, short for Raha-automaattiyhdisty, was established in 1938.
The government-controlled gambling monopoly has been in place for more than 70 years, since before the second world war, and it has always been an inhospitable environment for foreign operators.
