Finland Drops Per-Spin Tax Treatment for Offshore Slots
A 3-2 court ruling has changed how Finland calculates tax on slot winnings from casinos outside the EEA. Individual spins will no longer be treated as separate taxable events.
The case reached Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court after the Tax Administration applied its rules to online slot play. Those rules produced an unusual result. A player could win on one spin, lose the money again moments later and still face tax based on the winning result.
The court has now rejected that method. Instead, the calculation should cover a session of play. Wins and losses made during the same session can therefore be considered together.
Players Can Still Owe Tax after Losing Overall
The change does not mean all gambling wins and losses can be combined. Antti Koivula, Chief Compliance Officer at Hippos ATG, said separate sessions remain separate for tax purposes. A loss in one cannot be used to reduce taxable income generated in another.
This can still leave players in a difficult position. Take a player who finishes one session €1,000 ahead and loses €1,500 the next day. The overall result is a €500 loss. Under the approach described after the ruling, the earlier €1,000 profit may still count as taxable income. That is a major difference from calculating tax on a player’s total result over a longer period.
Miika Härkönen of the Finnish Taxpayers’ Association welcomed the court’s decision. Koivula was also critical of the previous spin-by-spin system, describing the method as unreasonable.
A related court decision concerning professional sports betting is also expected.
The Next Issue Is Where a Session Ends
The ruling creates a simpler basis for slot taxation, but it also gives tax officials a new line to draw. For an uninterrupted period of play, the answer may be obvious. Less clear is what happens when someone stops briefly, switches games, or returns to the casino later in the same evening.
The Tax Administration will now have to account for the court’s interpretation when applying its guidance on gambling outside Finland and the EEA. The case is especially relevant to play at offshore casinos. Finland still operates largely under the Veikkaus monopoly, while a new licensed gambling system is being prepared for July 2027.
That reform will change the wider market, but it does not remove the immediate tax question raised by the judgment. For players using non-EEA sites, one part is now settled: the tax office cannot break slot play down into individual spins. What counts as one session may prove to be the next argument.