Gambling in Åland: Laws, PAF and Online Casinos

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

The Åland Islands are an autonomous region of Finland in the Baltic Sea. Gambling is one of the areas in which Åland makes its own laws. As a result, Finland has two separate gambling systems: one for mainland Finland and one for Åland. On Åland, money games (penningspel) may be offered only by Ålands Penningautomatförening (PAF), a public-law association whose surplus is used for public-benefit purposes on the islands. PAF operates gaming on Åland, on board ships registered there and, under the same Åland permit, online. Finland’s new Gambling Act, which opens online casino games and betting to licensed competition on the mainland from 1 July 2027, does not apply on Åland. This guide explains the legal basis of the Åland system, how it is supervised, the position of players, taxation, responsible gambling and the developments of 2023–2026.

Key points

Under the Act on the Autonomy of Åland (1144/1991), Åland legislates on public order and security. Lottery and gambling legislation is treated as falling under that power, so Åland has its own Lotteries Act, the landskapslag (1966:10) om lotterier.
PAF is the only body authorised to organise money games on Åland. Its current permits from the Government of Åland cover land-based gaming, ferries and online games and run from 2017 to the end of 2026.
Since 1 January 2024 the Government of Åland itself supervises lotteries and gambling. The separate Lotteriinspektionen authority was abolished.
Finland’s Gambling Act (10/2026) does not apply on Åland. A Finnish licence cannot be used to offer online gambling to people resident on Åland.
The minimum age for PAF’s games is 18. Players can limit their play or exclude themselves through PAF’s own tools, and the Finnish helpline Peluuri offers support in Swedish.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.

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Historical development

PAF was founded in 1966, the year in which Åland adopted its Lotteries Act, and has collected funds for the islands’ public good since then. According to PAF’s 2025 results, as reported by SBC News in May 2026, its cumulative distributions to society reached €527.9 million, passing the €500 million mark in the association’s sixtieth year. In a 2017 consultation response to the Swedish government, PAF described itself as running slot machines and casino table games on most passenger ferries operating in the Baltic Sea. In Swedish territorial waters, that activity was licensed by the Swedish gambling authority. The same response noted that PAF held permission from the Government of Åland to offer money games over the internet.

Its online site, paf.com, became the channel through which the association reached customers outside Åland, including on the Finnish mainland. Finland’s government bill on the gambling reform, RP 16/2025, estimated PAF’s gross gaming revenue from mainland Finland at between €80 million and €90 million a year in 2017–2023. Gross gaming revenue (GGR) means stakes less prizes paid out. The same bill counted PAF among the operators outside the Finnish monopoly.

Two institutional changes followed. The mainland monopoly operator Veikkaus ended its gambling operations on Åland on 31 December 2017, according to the Finance Committee of the Finnish Parliament. In 2016 Åland created a separate supervisory authority, Lotteriinspektionen, by the Act on Lotteriinspektionen (2016:10). It was abolished at the end of 2023 and its tasks were transferred to the Government of Åland.

Legal framework

Checking gambling legislation and licensing Åland’s autonomy rests on the Act on the Autonomy of Åland (1144/1991). The Act was adopted on 16 August 1991 and came into force on 1 January 1993. Section 18 gives the Åland Parliament (lagting) legislative power over, among other matters, “public order and security”, with exceptions listed in section 27. Section 18 does not mention lotteries expressly; the Act refers to lotteries only in its provisions on lottery tax. The Government of Åland’s position, stated in its April 2025 statements to the Finnish Parliament, is that lottery legislation falls within Åland’s competence on the basis of section 18(6) on public order and security, and also of section 18(22) on trade and business. The Finance Committee of the Finnish Parliament, in its report FvUB 28/2025 on the Finnish reform, likewise stated that lottery legislation falls within the Åland Parliament’s competence under the Autonomy Act, and that under Supreme Court decision KKO 2005:27 the new Finnish Gambling Act does not apply on Åland. We were unable to retrieve the full text of that 2005 decision. It concluded that “Finland thus has two separate gambling systems and gambling laws” (our translation).

The main Åland statutes and instruments are:

Landskapslag (1966:10) om lotterier (the Åland Lotteries Act). It was substantially amended by Act 2016:11 (ÅFS 2016:11), in force from 1 January 2017. That amendment added rules on money games, an 18-year age limit (section 4a), quality-management duties covering responsible gambling and anti-money-laundering measures (section 4d), supervisory powers, and a prohibition on selling or brokering money games run by anyone other than the authorised organiser (section 5j).
Landskapsförordning (1993:56) on Ålands Penningautomatförening and its activities, last amended in this respect by a 2017 regulation (ÅFS 2017:33). It defines PAF as the association referred to in section 3 of the Lotteries Act. Its area of operation is Åland and ships registered there. It may operate outside that area only with the Government’s permission.
ÅFS 2023:119, an amending Act that repealed the Act on Lotteriinspektionen (2016:10) and made the Government of Åland the supervisory authority from 1 January 2024.

Penalties are set in section 7 of the Lotteries Act. A money-gaming offence (penningspelsbrott) carries a fine or up to two years’ imprisonment. Other lottery offences, including marketing money games contrary to the Act, carry a fine or up to six months.

Some matters linked to gambling remain under national Finnish law. Anti-money-laundering (AML) legislation is one: the Government of Åland noted in 2023 that the Åland Delegation had treated AML measures as a matter for the state. Lottery tax is also a state tax (see Taxation below).

Regulator and licensing model

Åland uses an exclusive-rights model, often called a monopoly. Under this model the law reserves an activity for a single designated operator. The Government of Åland (Ålands landskapsregering) grants PAF’s permits, appoints its board of five to seven members each calendar year and decides how its surplus is distributed. There is no licensing round open to private operators, and no published register of other licensed online operators.

The permits in force were granted on 21 December 2016. Most run from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2026. They cover bingo, casino table games, gaming machines, scratch cards on ferries, entertainment machines, horse-race betting in cooperation with a Swedish totalisator, and “gaming and lotteries via electromagnetic waves”, the statutory phrase for remote and online gaming. The remote permit lists the games on paf.com and, in 2016, set a general maximum stake of €500 per game and €1,000 per bet for betting. It allowed PAF to work with partners while remaining responsible for their compliance. It required games to be audited annually by an international audit firm. The protocol records a separate poker permit with a heading running to 31 December 2027. We could not confirm whether that differing end date is intentional.

The Government has adjusted the permits since then. On 31 January 2024, for example, it raised the maximum stake for table games from €500 to €1,000 per game, leaving the other conditions of the 2016 permit unchanged. Because most permits expire at the end of 2026, a renewal decision is expected. At the time of review we had not found a published decision on PAF’s permits from 2027.

Supervision. From 2017 to 2023 supervision lay with Lotteriinspektionen, an independent authority under the Government’s administrative oversight. ÅFS 2023:119 abolished it and transferred its cases, contracts and staff positions to the Government from 1 January 2024. References to Lotteriinspektionen in the Lotteries Act now read as references to the Government. The Finance Committee states that the Government of Åland is responsible for supervising money gaming, and PAF itself stated in June 2026 that the Government of Åland supervises its operations.

Anti-money laundering. AML rules are national. Finland’s Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (444/2017) applies on Åland. A 2018 government bill, RP 23/2018, brought gambling associations operating on Åland within the Act. It proposed that AML supervision of these associations be transferred by presidential decree to the Åland lottery supervisor, and Lotteriinspektionen was designated as a supervisor from 2018. A further presidential decree of July 2024 (478/2024; ÅFS 2024:58), in force from 1 August 2024, transfers the supervisory powers under chapter 7 of the AML Act over money-gaming associations regulated by Åland law from the National Police Board to the Government of Åland.

Online gambling and enforcement

Online casino games on mobile devices Online casino games, betting and poker are lawful on Åland when offered by PAF under its remote permit. No other operator holds an Åland authorisation to offer money games to Åland residents. Section 5j of the Lotteries Act prohibits selling or brokering participation in money games organised by anyone other than the authorised organiser, and receiving stakes or passing on winnings without permission. The supervisor may also prohibit a money game or its marketing (section 5l).

The Åland Lotteries Act does not set up the kind of enforcement tools found in many licensing countries. We found no domain blocklist, no Internet service provider blocking order and no payment-blocking scheme specific to Åland. Finland’s mainland measures are part of national law that the Finance Committee says does not apply on Åland. The Government of Åland also told the Ministry of the Interior that blocks on payments and network traffic may be problematic under the Autonomy Act. We found no Åland measure that restricts access to online services run from abroad, which are neither authorised nor supervised on Åland.

The Finnish reform also sets a boundary from the other side. According to the Finance Committee, the residence rule in section 21 of the new Gambling Act means that a Finnish electronic gambling licence cannot be used to offer online gambling to people resident on Åland. An Åland resident visiting mainland Finland may still buy coupon games there in person. From July 2027, operators licensed for mainland Finland will therefore still have no lawful route to Åland residents online. The Ministry of the Interior has stated that the reform makes it possible for PAF to apply for a Finnish licence, and that lottery tax and corporate tax paid by PAF would be remitted back to Åland.

Position of players

The penalty provisions of the Lotteries Act are aimed at organising, selling, brokering and marketing gambling. We found no provision in the Åland legislation that makes it an offence for an adult to play with an online operator that lacks Åland authorisation, and no reported prosecution of a player. That conclusion rests on the amended text we reviewed. Readers needing certainty should consult the current consolidated Act or the Government of Åland.

Using an unauthorised site has practical consequences. Such operators are not supervised on Åland and do not have to apply PAF’s loss limits or self-exclusion tools. A player has no Åland authority to turn to in a dispute. Minors are protected by the duty on organisers not to let anyone under 18 play money games. The permits require the age limit to be clearly displayed on gaming machines and require each casino venue to set its own minimum age.

Taxation

Lottery tax and income tax are state (Finnish) taxes, but Åland’s autonomy arrangements return their yield to the islands. Under section 49 of the Autonomy Act, the amount of lottery tax paid on Åland is refunded to Åland each year from state funds, alongside a “tax settlement” covering corporation tax and other taxes.

The Finnish Tax Administration sets the current lottery tax on gambling provided under an exclusive right at 12% of profit (the gambling margin), after temporary rates of 3.4% in 2022 and 5% in 2023. The Government of Åland’s 2025 budget document records that during 2021–2023, when the lottery tax was “a little more than halved”, PAF paid a correspondingly higher return to the Åland budget. From 1 July 2027 the Tax Administration lists a uniform rate of 22% of lottery revenue (gambling margin). The Finance Committee noted that the new rules also cover PAF-group gambling and expected the change to be budget-neutral for both the state and Åland. In its April 2025 statements, by contrast, the Government of Åland estimated that the lasting reduction in the amount settled to Åland would be in the order of €1–2 million a year and said that the relevant wording should be clarified.

For players, the Tax Administration states that prizes from lotteries subject to Finnish lottery tax are tax-exempt income for the recipient. That covers winnings from PAF. The tax treatment of winnings from operators that pay no Finnish lottery tax depends on Finnish income tax rules and the operator’s place of licensing. Players with significant winnings from such operators should check with the Tax Administration.

PAF’s surplus forms a further, non-tax contribution. Under the 1993 regulation, its returns enter the Åland budget and are distributed for public-benefit purposes. In the 2025 budget €20 million was taken as income: €15 million for support and loans to the third sector, and €5 million as an extra withdrawal for the Government. A separate reserve of €30 million was kept to secure third-sector support against a possible decline in PAF’s results, for example if Finland introduced a licensing system.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

The legal minimum age for money games on Åland is 18. Section 4d of the Lotteries Act requires the organiser to keep a quality-management document covering responsible gambling, fraud prevention, customer integrity and anti-money-laundering measures. The 2016 remote permit requires a function that lets players voluntarily limit their play or exclude themselves from all gambling. It also requires PAF to report each year on its measures against gambling harm and their effects.

PAF has applied a company-wide annual loss limit since 2018. According to SBC News, the limit was cut from €17,500 to €16,000 in 2025, with a €6,000 limit for players aged 20–24. In February 2026 it was lowered again to €15,000. iNTERGAME reported the same 2025 results: revenue up 12% to €214.5 million, profit of €57.2 million and €55.5 million distributed to projects.

The Government of Åland monitors gambling through its alcohol, drugs, doping, tobacco and gambling policy programme. Its December 2023 follow-up report cites surveys by Åland’s statistics office (ÅSUB) of adults aged 18–79. The share who had played for money in the previous 12 months fell from 60% in 2011 to 52% in 2016 and 39% in 2021. In 2021, 4% said their own gambling could be a problem. The programme’s goals are that no one under 18 gambles for money and that money gaming remains a “sound and safe arena” under controlled forms.

Åland has no separate national self-exclusion register comparable to those in licensing countries. Self-exclusion is available through PAF’s own tools. Peluuri, the Finnish gambling-problem service, offers free and anonymous support in Swedish on 0800 100 101 and by chat. Its services are described as nationwide, although the site does not mention Åland expressly. Our responsible gambling guide sets out general steps for keeping gambling under control.

Recent and upcoming developments

Abolition of Lotteriinspektionen (2024). ÅFS 2023:119 moved supervision of lotteries and gambling to the Government of Åland from 1 January 2024.

Finnish Gambling Act (10/2026). Finland’s new Gambling Act is now law. According to a May 2026 guide by the Finnish law firm Borenius, certain provisions took effect on 1 March 2026, when the National Police Board began accepting licence applications. The Act takes full effect on 1 July 2027. From that date betting, online slots and casino games, and online money bingo are open to licensed competition on the mainland, and the Finnish Supervisory Agency takes over as regulator. Veikkaus keeps exclusive rights to lotteries, scratch cards and physical slot machines and casino games. None of this applies to Åland’s own gambling system.

Åland’s response. On 16 April 2025 the Government of Åland sent statements to the Finnish Parliament’s Finance and Constitutional Law Committees. It supported a Finnish licensing system “as long as it does not affect Åland’s competence”. It asked for the scope provision to be reworded to cover gambling “organised in” or “directed at” the realm, noting that the proposed term “conducted” was new and undefined. In an earlier statement of August 2024, attached to the same protocol, it had described the “directed at” test as unclear and potentially beyond state competence. It also warned that Åland’s ability to draw returns from PAF would be reduced.

PAF in the Finnish licensed market. In a statement of 29 June 2026 to the Finnish Ministry of the Interior on draft decrees under the new Act, PAF said it intends to apply for a Finnish licence. It commented on proposed rules on autoplay and play-time reminders.

Permit renewal and surplus rules. PAF’s main Åland permits expire on 31 December 2026, so a renewal decision for 2027 onwards is due. In January 2025 the Government also said it intended to revise, during its current term, the basic principle for dividing PAF’s returns between PAF and the Åland budget. The outcome of both should be checked against the Government’s published protocols.

Casino listings for players in the Åland Islands

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is authorised on Åland, where PAF holds the only permit for money games, and they must not be read as an indication that an operator may lawfully offer its games to Åland residents. Operators licensed for mainland Finland from July 2027 may not offer online gambling to people resident on Åland. Our general online casino guide explains how we review operators.

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Key points

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Historical development

Legal framework

Regulator and licensing model

Online gambling and enforcement

Position of players

Taxation

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in the Åland Islands

Related country guides

Sources and further reading

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