Leadstar Media warns Finland's affiliate ban could push players toward unlicensed gambling sites

Finland's online gambling market is set to change in 2027, when the long-held Veikkaus monopoly on legal online betting and gaming ends. More than 50 companies have registered interest in a licence, and 18 have so far received clearance from the National Police Board.

Affiliate marketing firms will not be part of the opened market. Finnish law will bar affiliates from promoting regulated betting sites and online casinos. Although the measure is framed as player protection, some in the industry fear it will give unregulated sites an advantage.

Jacob Ljunggren, Product Director at Leadstar Media, which runs affiliate sites including Oddsbonusar.se and Casinodealen.se, set out his concerns in an interview with SBC News. He argues that prohibiting affiliates from promoting licensed operators is a mistake that risks backfiring. In his view, affiliates help players find licensed options they may not know about, which matters when dozens of new operators arrive at once. Players will still look for comparisons and recommendations, he said, and affiliates who want to support the regulated market would be unable to provide them, leaving the field to those willing to promote unlicensed operators. He likened it to a six-point game in football: allowing affiliates could draw players into the regulated system and away from the unregulated one, while a ban risks losing on both fronts.

Ljunggren pointed to Sweden as a comparable market, with similar regulation and gambling culture. Swedish rules permit both affiliate marketing and welcome bonuses, whereas Finland will restrict both, which he expects to make customer acquisition particularly hard. In Sweden, some operators have chosen not to offer welcome bonuses and instead concentrate on a simple, seamless experience, including easy signup and suitable payment methods. He expects similar differentiation in Finland, and advises operators to define which users they want and why those users would choose them.

He sees channelisation, meaning the share of play that stays with licensed operators, as a clear risk, though he notes the debate over how poor it is in European markets. He is unsure players will grasp the difference between licensed and unlicensed operators, especially if affiliates continue presenting unlicensed sites as equally safe. He noted that distinguishing the two is not easy even in Sweden after years of regulation, citing a 2025 survey by Spelinspektionen.