The Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus is accelerating its transformation to prepare for the opening of the iGaming market in January 2027. Despite a market share decline to below 20% in recent years, Veikkaus still hopes to regain a dominant position in the future competitive landscape.
The monopoly position is being challenged, and the rise of the grey market along with reforms to the Lottery Act are pushing Veikkaus to urgently proceed with structural adjustments. CEO Olli Sarekoski admits that a decline in consumer purchasing power is impacting revenue, but points out that the number of active players is increasing.
The transformation began in September 2023, with former media executive Jarkko Nordlund appointed as the Executive Vice President of iGaming, bringing media entertainment thinking and initiating comprehensive reforms. In July 2024, former Kindred executive Andreas Reimblad joined to lead the reconstruction of sports betting, with Veikkaus developing a new platform in collaboration with OpenBet.
On the product level, Veikkaus is updating its PAM, CRM, front-end applications, and website to reshape the user experience. Reimblad particularly emphasized the proprietary trading team's control over odds for local events (such as Finnish baseball), which will become a core competitive strength.
In terms of branding, although Veikkaus enjoys high recognition, it also faces challenges from the "monopoly legacy impression." Nordlund believes that the brand perception must be reshaped into a more entertaining image.
Data and cross-selling permissions are still pending regulatory clarification, but Veikkaus already has a sufficient iGaming user base and does not need to migrate from lottery or offline devices.
In terms of talent, Veikkaus is broadly recruiting from within the industry and the entertainment sector, recently bringing in digital talent from companies like Netflix and Bolt.
Nordlund emphasizes that the company must be more entertaining and efficient, providing an exceptional consumer experience; Reimblad adds that compared to international companies, Veikkaus's "all bets are on the Finnish market," giving it more motivation to strive for a leadership position.
