Hippos ATG Oy, the joint venture of Swedish betting operator AB Trav och Galopp (ATG) and Finnish trotting and horse-breeding association Suomen Hippos, says it has been granted a licence under Finland's new Gambling Act. ATG announced the decision in a press release on 19 October, saying the licence granted that day allows the venture to offer games in Finland when the new licensing system takes effect on 1 July 2027.
That makes Hippos ATG the second applicant to say publicly that it has been approved, four days after Wildz Group said it had received the first Finnish licence. Like the Wildz award, the decision has so far been announced only by the company. iGaming Business reported that Finland's National Police Board, which is overseeing the licence application process, has not yet officially confirmed the outcome of any licence applications, and said it had reached out to the board for comment.
Licence covers horse racing, sports betting and online casino
According to ATG's release, the Finland gambling licence covers betting on horses, sports betting and online casino. Hippos ATG plans to offer its full range of games to Finnish customers from the first day the market opens, the release said. The company's chief executive is Mikael Bäcke and its head office is in Helsinki.
iGaming Business reported that Hippos ATG Oy has been granted the licence for a five-year period, citing an image of the licence shared on social media. ATG's release did not give the length of the term. Finnish rural affairs newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus also reported the award on 19 October, saying the company may operate in Finland as the new licensing system opens on 1 July 2027.
Maaseudun Tulevaisuus described the award as a rahapelitoimilupa, a gambling licence. Finland's police list that permit alongside the exclusive licence as the two forms of authorisation, with the type of game deciding which one an operator needs.
Bäcke calls the decision the key condition for entry
"We have always been confident that we will meet the conditions for the licence. A positive decision is the most important prerequisite for entering the market, so this is a significant moment for us," Bäcke said in a public statement quoted by iGaming Business.
"We have worked hard to build a completely new company in Finland and its operating models from the very beginning to meet the requirements of the new Finnish legislation," he said, according to the same outlet. "After this excellent news, we can focus even more strongly on the products themselves and on finalising the operational entity."
In ATG's release, Bäcke also said that applying for a licence is not only a matter of filling in a form. He said the company's preparations had included building processes for responsible gambling, anti-money-laundering measures, information security, technical compliance, internal control, risk management and corporate governance.
Sixty per cent of profit earmarked for Finnish horse sport
The ownership structure is central to how the venture says it will use its Finland gambling licence. Hippos ATG Oy is owned 50% by Suomen Hippos and 50% by ATG, according to the release, which describes its purpose as securing the funding base for Finnish horse sport and horse breeding after the gambling market opens. Under the company's profit-distribution model, 60% of profit will be returned to Finnish horse sport and horse breeding, ATG said.
Bäcke described ATG in the release as the largest gambling operator in the Nordic region and the market leader in horse betting in Sweden and Denmark. Maaseudun Tulevaisuus reported that ATG has operated in Sweden since 1974 and in Denmark since 2019. Bäcke said in the release that the company wants to help develop the Finnish gambling market and, through that, strengthen the conditions for Finnish sport and horse sport.
iGB reported that ATG announced the joint venture with Suomen Hippos in 2025, and that the venture later decided to use the ATG brand when the market launches in 2027 because of its brand recognition. The company told iGB last year that it would use ATG's in-house gaming platform, which it described as a "cost-effective solution."
Police board has yet to publish any licensing decisions
Finland is liberalising its state-owned monopoly gambling regime and opening its online market to private operators on 1 July 2027, according to iGB. Guidance from the Finnish Police says applicants seeking a Finland gambling licence could submit applications from 1 March 2026 under the transitional provisions of the new Gambling Act, but that licences will not enter into force before 1 July 2027.
The police guidance says applications made in 2026 go to the National Police Board, while from July 2027 they should be submitted to a new Supervisory Agency. Depending on the type of game, organising gambling will require either an exclusive licence or a gambling licence, and organising or marketing gambling in Finland without a licence is not permitted, the police say. From 1 July 2028, supplying software for gambling will also require a gaming software licence from the supervisory authority.
Until the board publishes its decisions, the awards claimed by Hippos ATG and Wildz rest on the companies' own statements.
About 80 applicants chase a small market
Around 80 companies have applied for Finnish gambling licences so far, iGB reported. The outlet said some market experts have raised concerns about oversaturation given Finland's small population, although the country has a large grey market that channelisation is expected to tackle.
Hippos ATG's chief compliance officer, Antti Koivula, predicted in a presentation at SBC Lisbon in September that the playing field would be uneven when the market opens, iGB reported. According to the outlet, current monopoly operator Veikkaus and offshore-licensed operators already active in Finland will have customer databases that may give them a head start over those "starting from scratch."
Eight months left to build the launch
Analysis: with its Finland gambling licence announced more than eight months before the market opens, Hippos ATG's remaining work appears to be operational rather than regulatory, which matches Bäcke's comment that the company can now concentrate on its products and on finishing the business. That suggests the next public milestones for the venture will be product and brand plans rather than further approvals, although the authority's own confirmation is still outstanding.
The profit-sharing model also means that part of the future income of Finnish harness racing will depend on how well a newly licensed operator competes against Veikkaus and the offshore brands Finnish players already use. Any further announcements from the roughly 80 applicants would give a clearer picture of how crowded the market will be on day one.
