Hippos ATG wins licence for Finland's 2027 market opening
Swedish operator Hippos ATG has secured a licence to enter Finland when the country's new multi-licence gambling regime begins on 1 July 2027, though it has flagged concerns over the marketing rules attached to it.
Hippos ATG, the Swedish gambling firm co-owned by AB Trav och Galopp and Suomen Hippos ry, has secured a licence to operate in Finland once the country's licensed market opens on 1 July 2027.
The licence covers horse racing and sports betting, alongside the online casino offering the company already runs in Sweden and Denmark. ATG has said it intends to build long-term economic value for Finnish horse racing, where trotting ranks as one of the country's most popular spectator and betting sports, second only to ice hockey.
Antti Koivula, Chief Compliance Officer at Hippos ATG, thanked the company's team and its owners on LinkedIn for the work that led to the licence approval, crediting their support and expertise throughout the process.
Finland's parliament voted late last year to end the gambling monopoly held by state-owned operator Veikkaus Oy, a change Veikkaus itself had backed. The incoming multi-licence system, delayed several times before settling on a July 2027 start date, will open up online betting and gaming to competition while leaving the National Lottery solely with Veikkaus, SBC News reported.
Koivula has nonetheless raised concerns about elements of the new framework, particularly the marketing restrictions operators will face. Affiliates remain completely barred from working in the market under the current rules, a position Koivula argues will make it harder for new entrants to build market share.
"I am still a bit worried about the marketing regulation and especially the enforcement," Koivula said during a panel at this year's SBC Summit Lisbon, according to SBC News. "Prohibiting traditional customer acquisition channels such as affiliates…I don't see that as a good option, it's really bad."
In earlier remarks to SBC News, Koivula said the affiliate ban stemmed from a flawed assumption that all affiliates operate the same way. "The misunderstanding was quite comprehensive," he said, adding that affiliates were wrongly cast as aggressive influencers targeting vulnerable groups. "Many affiliates operate in a highly responsible way and do meaningful responsible work themselves," he said, noting that affiliate marketing remains illegal in Finland, which he described as the root of the misconception.
H2 Gambling Capital estimates cited by the Finnish government put the domestic market's peak value at around €2bn in 2017 under the consolidated monopoly model. That figure had fallen to roughly €1.5bn by 2023 under the same system, according to the same data, leaving open the question of how the new licensed regime will perform under its current marketing constraints.