Olli Sarekoski, Veikkaus CEO: fair competition is only way forward for Finland

Having a monopoly is all well and good, but if your target audience is going elsewhere, is it serving its purpose? This is a question that Veikkaus, Finland’s gambling monopoly, is all too familiar with. Olli Sarekoski, Veikkaus’ President and Chief Executive Officer, walks SBC News through exactly why the Finnish state-owned lottery, betting and gaming company is backing government plans to end the monopoly it has held for decades. “The key point is the channeling rate,” he says. “A lot of gaming is outside the official channels. What is the point of the monopoly if this is the case? “There are apparently 1,500 gaming companies targeting Finland, so we don’t have a monopoly. In 2024, half of the total gaming volume was going outside the official market.” Olli Sarekoski. Credit: Veikkaus From July 2027, Finland will bring an end to the monopoly it has held over gambling activities for decades. Veikkaus maintained this monopoly in 2012, when it was formed by the merger of Veikkaus, Fintoto, and the Slot Machines Association (RAY). Both Veikkaus and the government shared the same concern – that the monopoly system was struggling to compete with the thousands of offshore, unlicensed platforms readily available to Finnish consumers. “A clear majority was outside the monopoly system,” Sarekoski continues. “When we were looking at harms caused by gaming, it has led to the situation where the majority of harm, especially serious harms, were from the gaming taking place outside the official system. “What is the role of the monopoly if it’s no longer channeling and functioning as a tool in preventing gaming harms? From our point of view, this unfair competition was making it a mission impossible. “The system was not able to protect itself, that was very clear, and it’s better to have fair competition.” Finland’s future It is expected that over 50 betting companies will enter the market once it opens on 1 July 2027. Veikkaus will retain the monopoly over lottery products and land-based gaming, with the competition coming in the online betting and gaming space. Various companies are already gearing up for market launch, like the Swedish-Finnish joint venture ATG Hippos. Sarekoski is more than confident Veikkaus will be able to withstand the competition. The reason being that Veikkaus has already been competing against an offshore market for years, meaning it has experience in abundance. “We have maybe three million registered customers in a nation of 5.7 million, so I don’t think there are a lot of new souls just waiting for the opening of the market,” he says. “From our point today, we are on a highway with a speed limit of 80kmph and the others (offshore firms) have no speed limit. From 1 July 2027 everyone has a 120kmph speed limit. “If I’m looking at it right now, we have a 80kmph speed limit and they have none. We have loss limits that others don’t have, we have marketing limits, we have jackpot limits. “I am waiting with a very positive mindset for the opening of competition, because the competition is already here – but we are waiting for fair competition.” As is with any market transition, there are a few questions still hanging over Finland’s future market. Prohibition of affiliate marketing is a concern for smaller operators, though Veikkaus doesn’t see this as a huge risk to its own business, Sarekoski tells us. The real test will be in the years that follow the market launch. The international iGaming industry is all too familiar with legislative overhauls that began with a lot of hype, only for the market to run into political hurdles later on. Sweden overhauled its own monopoly in 2019, while the Netherlands launched a new market in 2021. In the Netherlands, public concerns over gambling advertising have led to a crackdown on marketing after just four years. Meanwhile, in Finland’s neighbour to the west, Swedish channelisation rates – particularly for online casino activity – have fallen through the floor. Can Finland avoid this same fate? Sarekoski thinks that the answer is yes, but with the right regulation, and by carefully managing and navigating the inevitable political pushback. He tells us that he and Veikkaus are expecting some pushback, but affirms that the nightmare scenario of the Netherlands is not on the horizon. “At the moment in Finland there is no advertising for money gaming in the traditional media, so we will definitely see it become more visible for the peak audience,” he says. “I expect that there will be a debate, but I am also quite trusting that in the first six to nine months (after the re-regulation) this will be at a reasonable level (advertising), and when everyone can bring in their customer base and the market share is stabilised, I think it will calm down and be normalised.” The balance that Finland, Veikkaus, and the new market’s initial private betting licensees will have is in encouraging competition and drawing customers to the regulated sector without leading to a spike in gambling harm. This is a balance many markets have tried to strike, and in many cases have failed to do so, with disastrous results for the channelisation rate – which, as mentioned above, is the main motivation behind most market liberalisations to begin with. With tighter regulations often comes a staggering channelisation rate, as customers find offshore sportsbooks and casinos with much more varied offers – and often ones which carry much more risk, and return nothing to state revenues. “It’s easier to create very tight regulations, but it’s very demanding to keep the channeling rate up,” Sarekoski says. “When it comes to gaming harms, when gaming is taking place in the unofficial sites, it’s always much more complicated to take care of responsible gaming. “That’s what we are putting a lot of pressure on. We should have competition and fair competition. The competition should not be taking the highest risk with the gaming harms, it should be the customer experience.” Finland’s choice A positive sign for Finland’s future gambling market, from a political standpoint, is the broad approval it secured from across the country’s political spectrum. The bill’s second reading back in December 2025 saw 94% of MPs vote in favour. This included members from all four governing parties – the National Coalition, Finns, Christian Democrats, and Swedish People’s Party – before it was sent to President Alexander Stubb for final approval. Sarekoski describes the new law as “pretty liberal”. He believes that this will be very beneficial for Finland’s channelisation rate, expecting the rate to go “up to 80%, or even maybe a little bit over”. “I think it’s written in a way that will provide a fair competition environment,” he reiterates. The main question now is what kind of political opposition Finland’s gambling liberalisation will meet. Secondary legislation is almost always a guarantee in cases of major overhauls like this, as has been the case in Sweden and the Netherlands, to as far away as Brazil. Although members of opposition parties like the Greens and Left Alliance voted in favour of the bill, they did also call for changes to the bill such as tighter rules on marketing and advertising in sports and public places, and a ban on bonuses. Advertising and taxation could be big talking points. On advertising, affiliate marketing is not permitted, as mentioned above, but sports sponsorships and marketing on TV, radio, and in public spaces is permitted. Veikkaus anticipating tax pressure On taxation, as it stands, Finnish licensed gambling firms are set to be taxed at 22% of gross gaming revenue (GGR), far below the respective 37.8% and 40% rates on online gaming in the Netherlands and UK, which are so bitterly opposed by the industry. “There might be questions around the corner,” Sarekoski says. “Will there be political pressure to tighten the rules? It will then be extremely important to have tool packets for the authorities to protect the legal operators. “That is not the case in many markets and then the channelling rate keeps declining.” Channelisation has always been the main goal for the Finnish government, and for Veikkaus, throughout the political process around this market liberation. The choices that could be made post-2027, between “a liberal market with no defences or a tight ruling with effective tools”, as Sarekoski puts it, will be key to deciding the fate of Europe’s newest open gambling market.