Last week the Finnish government submitted a bill to parliament, the Finnish Gambling Act, which if approved will dismantle the monopoly currently held by the Veikkaus state-owned operator.
Veikkaus is currently the only operator of betting, gaming and lotteries in Finland, with the exception of the island territory of Åland where gambling services are provided by the company Paf.
Finland’s state-backed operator has been broadly supportive of changes, however, noting that the lack of competition sees Finnish channelisation rates fall well below target, with many bettors instead gambling with unlicensed overseas firms.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, of the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP), believes reform is needed to better protect players and ensure better all-round taxation of gaming revenue in Finland. If passed, the law will break up the monopoly in 2026.
This is a move that has broad political support dating back several years. Under the government’s proposed Bill, it will be able to sell off part of Veikkaus while retaining some control, and a private multi-licence system will be launched.
Speaking to SBC back in 2023, Antti Koivula, Partner and Legal Advisor at Legal Gaming Attorneys at Law, summarised the general political feeling around gaming law reform in Finland.
“As of now there is a widespread agreement among the parliamentary parties that the partial licensing system is the way in which Finland should head and it is more of a question when it will happen and what the partial licensing system will be like.”
Meanwhile, in a separate development this week, Veikkaus confirmed that negotiations with Swedish totalizator horse racing group ATG have broken down.
ATG was the party which called off the negotiations, Vekkaus says, with the company stating that its Swedish counterpart’s decision ‘was a surprise to us’. The negotiations centred around how the duo could work together to ‘increase the interest and pools of Finnish trotting venues’.
Veikaus envisions a future in which its Toto games “will be the home of Finnish trotting events for our customers in the future as well.” The firm emphasised that Finnish trotting is ‘important to our customers and to us as a Finnish gaming company”.
It also added that it expects greater competition to be created in horse racing as and when the gaming reforms pass through parliament and a multi-licence system is created. As with channelisation and combating the black market, Veikkaus expects the legislation to have a positive impact on Finnish horse sports.
Jarkko Nordlund, Director of Veikkaus’ Online Casino and Betting, said: “In this situation, we must start investing in domestic horse racing venues and further increase our measures to increase their attractiveness.
“We have just agreed on large-scale TV productions for the TotoTV visibility of Finnish trotting events and a long-term cooperation with Suomen Hippos on the visibility of the sport.”
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