Compliance Updates
Navigating Legal Frontiers: Nordic Legal’s Vision for the Finnish Gambling Market
The Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2025 brought together top experts across the iGaming and tech landscape, and Nordic Legal stood out as the event’s Scandinavian Legal Expertise Sponsor. A renowned legal advisory firm in the Nordic region, Nordic Legal continues to shape the future of gambling legislation and compliance in Europe.
In this post-event interview, we caught up with Pekka Ilmivalta, Head of the Finnish Office at Nordic Legal, to dive deeper into the firm’s insights on the upcoming Finnish gambling reform, the legal challenges it poses, and the opportunities it presents for operators preparing to enter the market.
Finland is preparing to launch its regulated gambling sector in January 2026. As an expert with over 20 years of experience in the gambling industry, how do you view its draft legislation and the current state of the Finnish gambling market?
Finns are used to gambling online, and the size of the market is close to 2 billion euros in GGR. As the market share of the national monopoly operator, Veikkaus, has declined to around 50 percent, nearly half of the gambling spending already takes place outside the Finnish regulation. Therefore, the gambling legislation reform is really needed.
The Government Proposal now being dealt with in the Finnish Parliament is generally a comprehensive and a good package. As the political parties are quite unanimous about the need for the reform, I expect the parliamentary discussion to concentrate on the balance between responsibility measures and the features making the market interesting enough for the operators to enter the regulated market. Especially marketing, use of affiliates and bonusing will, and should, be discussed.
I believe that the Parliament will approve the new legislation early next autumn and that the B2C license application process will be able to begin already in January next year.
The Finnish legislative review council has raised concerns about potential increases in gambling harms under the new regulatory framework. What measures do you believe are necessary to mitigate these risks, and how could Finland balance market liberalization with responsible gambling practices?
Personally, I think that gambling harms must be taken seriously. However, as almost half of the Finnish gambling now happens outside the regulated market, I am convinced that succeeding in channelization is a crucial starting point to really mitigate gambling harms. Therefore, attractiveness of the market and measures against the black market are extremely important. Furthermore, self-exclusion and responsible gambling tools are, of course, needed for the players. Generally, I believe that AI assisted monitoring could and will have an important role in preventing harmful gambling in the future. To really work, responsible gambling tools need to be both pragmatic and relevant for each individual player.
Considering Finland’s upcoming gambling reform, what legal and operational challenges should gambling operators be prepared for, particularly regarding compliance and player protection? Which key trends do you see shaping the market’s future?
As it seems now that affiliates and welcome bonuses will be banned, operators will have to find other means to build their brand and acquire customers. Even though traditional marketing and sponsoring are widely acceptable, I would expect to see innovative solutions to stand out from the probable marketing avalanche during the first months after the market opening. Perhaps new kinds of sponsorships or retail activities? Or even enhanced player protection measures to gain a competitive edge?
Overall, I would advise operators to start their market entry preparations early enough. The licensing procedure could take several (6 to 9) months. Also, adjusting to the local technical and player protection requirements might not happen overnight.
What insights could help Finland create a balanced and effective gambling market?
I believe that the new legislation will provide a good enough framework for a functional gambling market. However, based on experiences from Sweden and Denmark, I would point out two practical aspects crucial to making the new legislation effective: First, there needs to be collaboration between licensed operators and the new regulator. Dialogue and a mutual will to find solutions should be the common mindset. Secondly, the regulator hopefully has enough resources (tools, persons and persistence) to interfere with the black-market operations, which will evidently still exist also after the reform.
Nordic Legal has extensive experience advising European governments on regulatory best practices. How can your firm assist operators looking to enter the Finnish market and navigate the evolving legal landscape?
With our deep knowledge of Finnish legislation, extensive experience from regulatory developments in other jurisdictions, and strong industry relationships, we are well-positioned to support operators and B2B suppliers entering the Finnish market. We can offer comprehensive guidance not only on compliance and licensing, but also on navigating strategic challenges, ensuring our clients are well-prepared for a dynamic and shifting legal landscape. Our proactive approach enables us to identify regulatory changes early and help clients stay ahead of industry developments.
The post Navigating Legal Frontiers: Nordic Legal’s Vision for the Finnish Gambling Market appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
BetGuard
The blueprint for North American scalability
The Mill Adventure’s CCO, Bjørnar Heggernes, looks at how operators in North America can adopt a compliance-first, technology-driven approach to turn complex challenges into long-term growth.
North America presents one of the most potentially lucrative, yet structurally complex, opportunities in the global industry. Those looking to enter the region are presented with a highly fragmented map of state-by-state and province-by-province regulations, where crossing a border often means navigating an entirely new set of rules.
Considering Ontario, the regulated market earlier this year reported impressive 26% year-on-year growth, with total sports betting and online casino wagers approaching the $100 billion mark. However, succeeding in a market of that scale requires a grounded, knowledge-based perspective on where the real barriers to entry lie. Market access for an operator is one crucial element, but sustainable growth depends on aligning technology, operations, and compliance into a foundation built to scale efficiently from the start.
At The Mill Adventure, we don’t view our recent GLI-19 certification as a standalone announcement or a surface-level achievement. Instead, we see it as a foundational milestone that underpins our approach to North American expansion.
For operators, the true value of an advanced, certified platform lies in what it enables: the ability to operate across multiple regulated environments under a unified, consistent compliance framework. Moving into a new jurisdiction should not mean a full operational rebuild or adding complex layers on top of each other. When compliance is embedded at the platform level as a core pillar, it becomes easier to adapt at speed and with less risk. Market entry is then a question of readiness, not reinvention.
This core strength and adaptability unlock long-term scalability, allowing operators to execute a broader strategy with the confidence that the foundational technology is compliant from the outset.
From certification to operational readiness
Beyond the technical specifications of GLI-19, the operational essentials that shape launch readiness demand equal focus. Our experience tells us that compliance-first architecture is about meeting the day-to-day challenges, not simply passing an initial audit.
Robust infrastructure must handle complex regulatory reporting requirements and rigorous, ongoing certification and licensing processes. The platform remains the backbone of a compliant offering, supported by the necessary seamless integration of third-party services. In Ontario and other North American jurisdictions, this goes beyond core controls such as session limits and identity checks for KYC, which need to be embedded to meet market requirements. It extends to integrations with player protection systems such as BetGuard, Ontario’s self-exclusion system requiring real-time syncing and seamless verification, geolocation precision, and system traceability when it comes to data storage and audit trails.
As well as compliance, operators also need to consider how platform technology can support a stronger launch and gain maximum impact from day one. This requires platform providers to offer complete readiness in terms of infrastructure, careful coordination with third-party suppliers, and comprehensive go-live planning. Get this process right and operators can reduce friction, allowing them to focus more firmly on growth.
Compliance beyond Ontario
A rigorous approach to operational readiness sets the stage for our upcoming operator launch in Ontario. Building on the supplier license already secured in the province and our recent GLI-19 certification, the launch will put our North American entry strategy into practice in one of the region’s most demanding regulated markets. Successfully deploying our platform will demonstrate how our technology supports the operational and technical realities of compliance across the region.
That said, receiving AGCO approval to provide our full-service player account management platform, achieving the GLI-19 standard and entering Ontario are not the finish line for us. In this sector, compliance is an ongoing evolution rather than a static destination, and our roadmap reflects that reality. GLI-33 certification forms the next natural step in our platform’s continued development. As the convergence of casino and sports betting continues to define the player experience, pursuing GLI-33 is a key part of our ongoing investment in anticipating where regulation is heading, not just responding to it.
The fragmented nature of North America will continue to challenge operators, but it will reward those who build on the right foundation. By prioritizing a technology-driven, compliance-first approach to platform provision, The Mill Adventure is delivering the consistency, stability, and repeatability that operators need to scale sustainably.
The post The blueprint for North American scalability appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Aviator
Pernambuco court revokes Spribe’s interim relief in Aviator trademark dispute
TJPE cites a Brasília federal ruling that suspended the legal effects of Spribe’s AVIATOR registration and barred exclusivity claims during nullity proceedings.
The Court of Justice of Pernambuco (TJPE) has revoked preliminary appellate relief previously granted to Spribe OÜ in litigation over the AVIATOR trademark in Brazil.
In a monocratic decision, Justice Andrea Epaminondas Tenorio de Brito held that the factual and legal basis for the earlier injunction no longer exists. The court pointed to a subsequent decision by the Federal Court in Brasília that provisionally suspended the legal effects of Spribe’s Brazilian AVIATOR trademark registration and ordered Spribe to refrain from asserting exclusivity based on that registration while federal nullity proceedings are ongoing.
TJPE said its earlier relief relied on the presumption that Spribe’s trademark registration before Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) was fully valid and enforceable. With the federal court suspending the registration’s effects, the Pernambuco court found the underlying circumstances had materially changed.
The court cited Article 296 of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure as the basis for revoking the preliminary relief in light of the changed legal situation.
The post Pernambuco court revokes Spribe’s interim relief in Aviator trademark dispute appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Aviator
Pernambuco court revokes Spribe interim relief in AVIATOR trademark dispute
The Court of Justice of Pernambuco (TJPE) has revoked preliminary appellate relief previously granted to Spribe OÜ in ongoing litigation over the use of the AVIATOR trademark in Brazil, citing a change in the legal circumstances supporting the earlier decision.
In a monocratic decision, Justice Andrea Epaminondas Tenorio de Brito concluded that the factual and legal basis for the prior injunction no longer exists. The ruling follows a decision by the Federal Court in Brasília that provisionally suspended the legal effects of Spribe’s Brazilian AVIATOR trademark registration.
According to the press release, the federal court also ordered Spribe to refrain from asserting exclusivity based on that registration until the federal nullity proceedings are resolved.
TJPE said its earlier decision had relied on the presumption that Spribe’s trademark registration with the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) was fully valid and enforceable. With the federal court now suspending the legal effects of that registration, the Pernambuco court held that the foundation for interim relief had materially changed, prompting revocation under Article 296 of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure.
The post Pernambuco court revokes Spribe interim relief in AVIATOR trademark dispute appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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