Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court: Online Casino Winnings Taxed Per Session

On August 13, 2026 Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court (KHO) partially changed an advance tax ruling on winnings from online casinos outside the EEA, moving from a game-by-game approach to a gaming-session approach. The case concerns an individual player’s income tax, not a tax on operators.

What is on the official record

The Finnish Tax Administration’s page for advance ruling KVL 39/2025 records the starting point. The Central Tax Board had held that winnings from online casino play outside the EEA are taxable income, treated each game as a separate event, and allowed no offset of losses in one game against winnings in another. The same page records that the KHO partially modified that ruling on August 13, 2026 (record number 2055).

What the ruling changes

We could not retrieve the decision text itself, so the detail below follows summaries by PwC Finland, Rahapelisanomat and Taloustaito. They report that:

• the court decided by three votes to two;
• winnings from casinos outside the EEA are taxable earned income even if the player is down over the whole year;
• the taxable event is a gaming session, not each spin or game, so losses within a session count against winnings in that session;
• losses in one session cannot be set against winnings in another session.

The case involved play at a Curaçao-licensed casino, according to the PwC summary. The Tax Administration’s general guidance on winnings from betting and slot games outside Finland and the EU/EEA dates from 2023, describes a bet-by-bet approach and, when we checked, did not mention the August ruling.

What it means for players

If you are tax-resident in Finland and play at casinos outside the EEA, a profitable session can be taxable even when your year as a whole is a loss, and a losing session does not cancel it. The ruling makes your own records matter: keep dates, deposits, withdrawals and balances for each session. This is not tax advice; the Tax Administration or a tax adviser can say how the ruling applies to your case. Finland plans to open a licensed market on July 1, 2027, and our report on the 50 licence applications explains that timetable.

Sources and update record

• Finnish Tax Administration: advance ruling KVL 39/2025 (record of the KHO decision of August 13, 2026).
• Finnish Tax Administration: taxation of income from betting, lottery and slot games arranged outside Finland and the EU/EEA, 2023.
• Focus Gaming News, 2026 (original report).
• Rahapelisanomat: Korkein hallinto-oikeus, pelirupeama määrittää ETA-alueen ulkopuolisen verotuksen, August 24, 2026.

Updated October 1, 2026 to correct the original description of the case (it concerns players, not operators or EEA hosting), add the Tax Administration’s record of the ruling and a player-facing note, and update the headline to match.