Potential effects on Finnish soccer when sports betting monopoly is removed
Lately, there has been some buzz around players like Teemu Pukki and Joel Pohjanpalo, who are both blazing their trails on the international scene. The same applies to Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecký who has had a phenomenal career playing in Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Also, who could ever forget the great Finnish stars of yesteryear like Sami Hyypiä and Jari Litmanen?
Despite Finland having some decent players, the northern nation is not exactly a household name in international soccer. In this article, we take a closer look at Finnish soccer and some of the potential effects that Finland starting its own gambling regulation could have on the scene.
Finland has a strict gambling monopoly on sports betting
Every country has its own stance on gambling. In some countries, especially in Asia, gambling is completely prohibited. In Finland, however, gambling has been a popular pastime ever since the days of the Second World War. For more than 80 years, Finland has had a state-run monopoly on all gambling, including sports betting.
Despite the monopoly, the Finnish government has not been able to fight outside influences on its gambling markets. This is because of EU law, which dictates that the Finnish government cannot ban outside companies from offering their services to Finnish customers online. Especially websites such as verovapaatnettikasinot which list tax-free online casinos are very popular among Finnish people. Because of this, almost half of all the gambling revenue in Finland is currently flowing outside of the country into the hands of private businesses located in countries like Malta.
Finally tired of fighting the windmills, the Finnish government has announced that it will be getting rid of its state-run monopoly by the 1st of January 2026. After this, outside companies will, for the first time, be permitted to operate legally inside the Finnish borders. In order to do this, however, they will first need to apply for a Finnish license. This way, the Finnish government will actually be able to keep some of the money flowing outside of the system within the system.
The new gambling system could have many effects on Finnish soccer
Next, we get to the actual meat and potatoes of this article. After Finland starts regulating, there is a high probability that this could also end up affecting the Finnish soccer scene.
As many of you may know, there is a huge link between online gambling and sports. The biggest of these links obviously comes in the form of sponsorships. International gambling companies are always on the lookout for new customers and fresh money, which is why they are often willing to pay a premium price in order to get their logo on successful teams’ jerseys and gear.
Interestingly, the Finnish national football league nowadays is called Veikkausliiga. This is in honor of the Finnish state-run monopoly, which is called Veikkaus. It is likely that this name will have to be changed in order to accommodate a freer and less biased gambling market. At the same time, more gambling companies will probably be able to enter the league as sponsors, which should bring a lot more competition and money into the league.
If and when Finnish soccer teams get more money from sponsorships, this money could incentivize more aspiring players to consider soccer as a lucrative career. In other words, new money coming in could raise the overall number and level of athletes as well as their dedication to their craft. This, in turn, could lead to Finnish national teams becoming more strong, which would also create a bigger buzz around Finnish soccer as a whole.
However, as is always the case with gambling sponsorship, there could also be negative effects. Namely, advertising gambling always has the potential to increase the overall popularity of gambling, which can lead to more gambling problems among people. At the current time, Finland is already suffering from a bit of a gambling epidemic with Finns being the fourth-most active gamblers in the world, just behind Australia, Singapore, and Ireland. Because of this, it is unclear whether the Finnish government will want to increase the visibility and prevalence of online gambling even further.
Conclusion
The Finnish soccer scene stands to gain a lot when the Finnish monopoly on gambling ceases to exist. Even so, there are still many unanswered questions as to what the future will look like come January 2026.