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Navigating Legal Frontiers: Nordic Legal’s Vision for the Finnish Gambling Market

Published

1 day ago

April 14, 2025

Reading Time: 3 minutes

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.

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FOLIATTI CASINO GUADALUPE ADDS ZITRO’S CONCEPT CABINET LINE

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1 hour ago

April 15, 2025

George Miller

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Foliatti Casino Guadalupe, a leading entertainment destination in Monterrey, Mexico, is getting a fresh look with the addition of CONCEPT, Zitro’s innovative furniture line, which aims to transform the gaming experience for its customers.

Additionally, players can now enjoy the medieval-themed multi-game Legendary Sword, featuring a huge 6×5 reel and special features like Honor, which multiplies winnings; Glory, which grants extra spins; and Magic Sword, which doubles prizes in its column.

Daniel Ramírez, Slots and BI Manager at Foliatti emphasizes their dedication to offering customers the most cutting-edge experiences: “In our ongoing effort to improve and broaden our entertainment options, we’re once again relying on Zitro to wow our players. CONCEPT and Legendary Sword have been a hit, and our customers’ feedback has been very positive.”

Johnny Viveiros Ortiz, founder of Zitro, comments: “We appreciate Foliatti Casino’s continued trust in Zitro and for choosing CONCEPT again, both for their Gonzalitos and Guadalupe venues.”

The post FOLIATTI CASINO GUADALUPE ADDS ZITRO’S CONCEPT CABINET LINE appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Monsterwin Partners with iConvert to Turn Global Traffic into Real Deposits

Published

2 hours ago

April 15, 2025

George Miller

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Monsterwin Casino, the fast-scaling international operator, has partnered with iConvert, the world’s first iGaming-specific conversion solution, to power up first-time deposits (FTD) rates across its global sites.

With players spanning Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Finland, Canada, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, Monsterwin’s footprint is vast. But so is the volume of unconverted traffic. iConvert’s solution is built for exactly this: turning missed opportunities into new depositing players.

Now live across all of Monsterwin’s key markets, iConvert’s behavioural overlays are geo-personalised and traffic-source-driven, ensuring every user sees the right offer, at the right time, before they bounce.

Monsterwin is the kind of operator we love working with, ambitious, global, and not here to mess about. They’ve got the traffic. Our job is to make sure more of it converts. This partnership is all about building smarter funnels, fast.

Ashley Wood, CEO of iConvert. “Partnering with iConvert is a game-changer for our conversion strategy—bringing sharper visibility and greater control across every region. Their team, led by the brilliant Ashley Wood has been nothing short of exceptional. This marks the start of what we believe will be an outstanding and long-lasting partnership.”

Sebastian, Head of Affiliates at Altair Affiliates. “With over 2M FTDs generated and 100+ operators across 50+ global markets, iConvert continues to help iGaming brands stop wasting traffic and start turning interest into action.”

The post Monsterwin Partners with iConvert to Turn Global Traffic into Real Deposits appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Liftoff’s Mobile AppDev Awards 2025 Finalists Announced

Published

2 hours ago

April 15, 2025

George Miller

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Mobile AppDev Awards 2025 recognizes excellence in mobile games and apps

Liftoff, the leading provider of marketing, monetization, and creative solutions for the mobile industry, has announced the finalists for the 2025 Mobile AppDev Awards.

Now in its fourth year, the Mobile AppDev Awards mark the best collaborations, social events, and minigame events in midcore and casual gaming, as well as marking both notable newcomers and evolving game apps.

For the first time, the 2025 awards will celebrate non-gaming apps for their innovation and use of engagement, social, and AI-powered features, drawing upon the skills and expertise of the team behind AppRefinery, Liftoff’s new insights platform designed to revolutionize app development and growth.

A jury of expert game and app analysts selected finalists across five gaming categories, each split into midcore and casual, as well as for the first year, four non-gaming categories.

Gaming categories (both midcore and casual) are:

Best Collaboration Event
Best Social Event
Best Minigame
Best Newcomer
Biggest Evolver

New for 2025, the non-gaming app categories are:

Best Feature Innovation
Best Use of Engagement Features
Excellence in Social Features
Excellence in AI-Powered Features

The winners will be announced on May 13th, 2025.

The finalists for the 2025 Mobile AppDev Awards are:

Best Collaboration Event (Midcore):

Summoners War: Sky Arena x Jujutsu Kaisen by Com2uS
PUBG Mobile x Venom: The Last Dance by Tencent
Brawl Stars x Spongebob Squarepants by Supercell
Goddess of Victory: NIKKE x Dave the Diver: Aegis the Diver by Level Infinite
Diablo Immortal x World of Warcraft: Eternal War by Blizzard Entertainment

Best Collaboration Event (Casual):