Online sports betting provider Hippos ATG Oy has taken a significant step towards securing its spot in the upcoming Finland regulated market by applying for a licence with the National Police Board’s Lottery Administration.
The licence, granted that it will be approved, will allow Hippos ATG Oy to roll out its product portfolio on Finnish grounds, including sports betting, online casino games, and horse racing games – the operator’s specialty.
Being regulated by the state will also allow for a dedicated channelisation of proceeds, with Hippos ATG Oy willing to strengthen and build up Finland’s equine sector.
It can be expected that various other firms are also in the process of applying, or getting ready to apply, for a licence under the forthcoming Finnish multi-licence market – with the window for applications opening this month.
Antti Koivula, Chief Compliance Officer at Hippos ATG Oy, commented: “The National Police Board has estimated that the processing time for licence applications will be 3 to 6 months, followed by the technical integrations required with the authorities’ systems. In total, the regulatory process is expected to take around 10 months. From our side, this phase has now officially started.
“It is important to bring trotting betting back closer to the trotting sport, where it naturally belongs. Betting is an integral part of Finnish horse racing, and a new era is now beginning, in which trotting betting will once again be developed clearly from the sport’s own starting points.”
As mentioned above, the licence application season officially kicked off this month, with Hippos ATG Oy looking at what will be a fierce competition. Immense Group, which operates the Mr Vegas and DBET brands, recently hired a new Managing Director to oversee Finnish operations.
Elsewhere, gambling giant Kambi signed a deal with up-and-coming sportsbook operator SuomiVeto to support its market launch, while domestic player Paf – which operates in the Aland Islands region and is also a Kambi partner – now has the potential to devise a nationwide rollout.
State launches research into problem gambling
With the market expected to go live in July 2027, things have started to quickly ramp up this March not only in terms of licence applications, but also in regards to regulations.
On 1 March, the Finnish government adopted its decree on problem gambling harm prevention, which includes important clauses on programme funding and research initiatives.
This is a core element of every jurisdiction where gambling is regulated, especially in Finland, where H2 Gambling Capital estimates that the market’s value under outgoing state monopoly operator Veikkaus Oy significantly dropped from its €1.8bn peak in 2017 due to players moving offshore.
With the new decree now enforced, research into gambling harm minimisation has officially begun, focusing on the reduction of health, economic, and social-related harms, as well as strategies on improving the market’s channelisation rates.
The new framework also sets out clear responsibilities for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, which has been assigned as the main monitoring, researching and harms evaluation body that can also develop prevention and treatment strategies for gambling harms.
Also outlined in the document is the role of the Finnish institute for Health and Welfare, which on top of being responsible for the implementation of the above-mentioned strategies will also have to allocate state funding for gambling harm research to non-profit actors.
In its 2026 state budget, the Finnish government has set aside a total of €1.5m (£1.3m) for subsidies and grants.
