Jenna Ekström has spent almost her entire career at one company: Paf. She now leads responsible gaming strategy for the Nordic operator and manages its HR team. Her work focuses on stopping gambling harm before it starts.
Who Is Jenna Ekström?
Jenna Ekström holds two titles at Paf: Responsible Gaming Manager, and Team Manager for the HR department. Paf is a licensed gambling operator based in Mariehamn, Åland Islands. She joined the company in 2010.
She holds a master’s degree from Jönköping International Business School. Her thesis studied how venture capital firms build new capabilities inside technology companies. That research background still shapes how she approaches policy work today.
She sets responsible gaming policy for players across Paf’s markets and manages people and culture inside the company’s HR team.
Jenna Ekström’s Career at Paf
Jenna Ekström’s path to the gambling industry started elsewhere. She held summer cashier and economy jobs at St1 Oy from 2005 to 2008, while she was a student. She moved into marketing work after that.
She joined Paf as a marketing assistant in 2010, working the role alongside her university studies for three years. She then spent roughly two years in sales roles outside the company, at Monki AB, Baltic Bunkering, and Demato.
She returned to Paf and moved into responsible gaming work. By September 2018, she held the title of Senior Responsible Gaming Specialist.
In April 2019, Paf named her Responsible Gaming Manager for Finland. She’s since been described simply as Responsible Gaming Manager, without a market qualifier. She also holds the Team Manager HR title today.
| Year(s) | Milestone |
| 2005-2008 | Summer cashier and economy jobs at St1 Oy (while a student) |
| 2010-2013 | Marketing Assistant, Paf (alongside university studies) |
| 2013-2015 | Sales roles at Monki AB, Baltic Bunkering, and Demato |
| Sep 2018-Apr 2019 | Senior Responsible Gaming Specialist, Paf |
| Apr 2019-present | Responsible Gaming Manager, Paf (also currently Team Manager HR) |
How Jenna Ekström Leads Responsible Gaming at Paf
Paf built its responsible gaming program around prevention, not reaction. Jenna Ekström has led that effort since 2015, and it now shapes how every player uses the site.
The company runs Radar, an in-house system that flags risky gambling behavior early. When Radar spots a warning sign, the player gets an automatic alert. For higher-risk cases, a team member also follows up with a personal phone call.
Paf also caps how much a player can lose in a year. Ekström helped introduce that policy’s first age-based tier in 2022.
Every tier has been cut at least once since then. The general cap was lowered most recently, in February 2026.
Paf’s Loss Limit Policy at a Glance
| Player Group | Annual Loss Limit | Why It Exists |
| Customers aged 25+ | €15,000 (about $17,800) | Cut from an original €30,000 cap set when Paf introduced loss limits in 2018 |
| Players aged 20 to 24 | €6,000 (about $6,500) | Lowered in December 2025 as Paf’s youth-focused cuts continued |
| Players aged 18 to 19 | €1,800 (about $1,950) | Set in 2023 as the strictest tier, aimed at signs of a gambling problem in Paf’s youngest customers |
Ekström helped set Paf’s first age-based limit in 2022. The company capped losses at €10,000 for players aged 18 to 24 at the time.
Paf has since split that group and cut every tier further. The general cap was last reduced in February 2026, and the youth tiers were last cut in December 2025. CEO Christer Fahlstedt has said the company’s long-term goal is a general limit of just €8,000 a year.
Jenna Ekström’s Role in HR at Paf
Jenna Ekström also manages a team inside Paf’s HR department. She focuses on internal culture and employee development, alongside her responsible gaming duties.
This dual role is unusual in the gambling industry. Most operators keep player protection and internal HR separate, but Paf places both under one manager.
Ekström has also spoken publicly about her work. That includes a session with tech students at grit:lab, the company’s coding program on Åland.
The Bottom Line On Jenna Ekström
Jenna Ekström has spent more than two decades in customer-facing roles, and most of it inside one company. She helped turn Paf’s responsible gambling program from a compliance requirement into a company-wide standard.
Her work shows what a responsible gambling program looks like when one person owns it from end to end. Expect her role to keep growing as European gambling regulation tightens further.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jenna Ekström?
Jenna Ekström oversees player protection and HR team leadership at Paf. Paf is a licensed gambling operator based in Åland, Finland. She has worked at the company since 2010 and has led its responsible gaming strategy since 2015.
What company does Jenna Ekström work for?
Ekström works for Paf, a gambling operator founded in 1966 and owned by the government of Åland. Paf offers online casino and sports betting products across Nordic markets, plus land-based gaming on cruise ships. The company reinvests its profits into community projects.
What is Paf’s loss limit policy?
Paf sets three mandatory annual loss limits based on age. The general cap is €15,000 for customers 25 and older. Younger players face lower caps: €6,000 for ages 20 to 24, and €1,800 for ages 18 to 19. Ekström helped introduce the first age-based limit in 2022, and Paf has cut every tier since.
What is the Paf Radar?
Radar is Paf’s own player-monitoring tool, built internally rather than licensed from an outside vendor. It flags signs of risky gambling behavior early. The responsible gaming team can then step in, often with a personal phone call.
What is Jenna Ekström’s educational background?
Ekström holds a master’s degree from Jönköping International Business School. Her thesis examined how venture capital firms build new capabilities inside technology companies. That research background still shapes her structured approach to policy work at Paf.
