ATG makes official complaint against Veikkaus ahead of Finnish gambling market opening
ATG claims that the state-controlled gambling operator is abusing its position as it scales back the companies’ partnership.
Finland.- The Swedish horseracing betting operator Aktiebolaget Trav och Galopp (ATG) has lodged a complaint against Veikkaus with Finland’s Competition and Consumer Authority (Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto). It argues that the state-controlled Finnish operator is abusing its position ahead of the expected opening of the country’s gambling market.
Veikkaus is currently the only regulated gambling provider in Finland, but the Finnish Gambling Act, currently awaiting parliamentary approval, would allow licensed competition in online gambling from the start of 2027. ATG plans to enter the market in a joint venture Hippos ATG with the Finnish equestrian society Suomen Hippos.
It had been expected that ATG might work with Veikkaus on an offering for the liberalised market as they have worked together to offer betting on Swedish trotting in Finland. However, ATG is upset that Veikkaus is now scaling back the companies’ existing partnership, with plans to stop distributing Swedish trotting races and data to the Finnish public and to stop taking bets. In its complaint, ATG says Veikkaus is “abusing its dominant market position”.
ATG also notes that Veikkaus has a player database of over 2.6 million people, which it says it will be able to use for cross selling even after the company’s online business is split from its monopoly operations. It argues that this will give the incumbent operator an unfair advantage over newcomers to the Finnish market.
Veikkaus raises concerns over suspicious floorball bets
Meanwhile, Veikkaus has reported concerns over incidents of suspiciously high bets on floorball in Finland, along with bets from accounts that had been inactive.
The suspicions relate to two games: a match between Finland and Norway in the 2024 Men’s World Championship in December and the playoff between Classic and SPV in the F-Liiga national club competition this spring.
The operator has informed the league, the Finnish Floorball Federation (SSBL) and the Finnish Sports Ethics Centre (SUEK) that it believes insider information may have been used by league players and officials not part of the national team. It stressed that it was not aware that those who played in the matches in question or acted as officials had placed bets on the matches.
Veikkaus director of Security and risk management Mikko Sarja said: “Based on our investigations, it seems quite obvious that secret lineup information was passed on and leaked from within the teams, before it became public, even against the team to which the bettor is connected.”
