Esports and skin gambling on the rise in Finland ahead of 2026 market reform

But listen closer: wagers are being placed, not in euros, but in digital weapon skins. What began as harmless play has evolved into high-stakes gambling on esports. And with Finland’s market reform looming in 2026, the lines between gaming and betting are fading fast.

Let’s talk about skins. In CS2 or League of Legends, they don’t make you better, just better-looking, a golden AK-47 here, a mythical champion skin there. But these items carry real-world value, sometimes trading for hundreds or even thousands of euros. Players — especially teens — use them to place bets on unregulated websites that simulate casino games or let you back your favorite esports team.

According to a 2024 Barron’s investigation, these skin-betting platforms are thriving in Finland’s current legal vacuum. While traditional gambling is tightly controlled by the state-run Veikkaus, skins slip through the cracks, technically not “money,” yet functioning exactly like it.

It’s a clever loophole. It’s also one that’s proving difficult to regulate.

Esports betting is gaining serious traction in Finland, with Counter-Strike 2 and League of Legends driving most of the action. Twitch and YouTube streams have evolved into interactive betting hubs, layered with real-time odds, AI-driven predictions, and immersive overlays. By late 2024, CS2 alone accounted for over 60% of total esports betting volume, with in-play wagers becoming the norm.

And Finland’s getting ready to legalize it all.

The government’s plan? Dismantle Veikkaus’s monopoly and launch a licensing model by January 2026. The new rules would allow foreign and domestic operators to enter the online market, if they play by the rules: age checks, anti-addiction tools, 22% tax on gross revenue.

A 2023 report by Finland’s Consumer and Competition Authority (KKV), found that Finnish players wagered approximately €520–590 million on offshore gambling sites in 2021, representing nearly 50% of Finland’s online gambling spend.

Here’s the rub. Skin gambling is seductive precisely because it doesn’t feel like gambling. It’s trading. It’s collecting. It’s “just part of the game.” And that’s what makes it dangerous.

A 2023 scoping review in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found that adolescents who engage in skin gambling show significantly higher rates of problem gambling severity. The review also highlights that many young users don’t perceive skin betting as a form of gambling, making the risks more difficult to identify and regulate

The upcoming reform includes stronger age verification and centralized exclusion systems. But critics argue that skins need their own legal definition, and regulation to match. Right now, it’s a digital wild west.

Finland has two years to figure this out. If it gets it right, it could set the gold standard for regulating a new generation of gambling, one rooted in culture, code, and esports clout. If it fumbles? The cost may not be counted in euros, but in the habits of a generation that learned to bet before they could vote.