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About Aloha
Industry consultant Jari Vähänen, formerly a senior executive at Veikkaus, estimated the entire business could be valued at up to €4.5 billion following the liberalisation of the market.
Veikkaus is adjusting to a partial liberalisation of Finland’s gambling market under the new Gambling Act, which was ratified in January 2026.
From July 2027, the company will lose exclusivity over betting and iCasino products, which will become licence-based, while retaining exclusive rights for lottery games, scratchcards, slot machines and physical table games.
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Taken together, the cases provide further ammunition for the anti-gambling lobby at a time when it is already facing political pressure, tax increases and demands for tighter restrictions. Each apparently avoidable failure makes it harder for the industry to argue that existing regulation is sufficient.
Yet Dan Waugh, partner at Regulus Partners, pushes back against the idea that enforcement notices reveal a fundamentally non-compliant sector.
“Operators failing compliance checks is never a good look,” he says. Campaigners often claim that financial sanctions are priced in and that the Commission should revoke more licences, although Waugh does not believe operators view settlements merely as a cost of doing business.
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Other studies have made similar estimations. In June last year two thirds of bettors surveyed by YouGov said the tax increase, which will also hit online sports betting from next year, would drive them to play with unlicensed operators.
The UK has historically maintained a high channelisation rate due to it being particuarly mature with a huge competitive offering. According to the report, up to 1,491 licensed sites provides sufficient choice for engaged players.
The report utilised various methods to estimate the size and scale of Europe’s black market, including web traffic, digital marketing, macros data and regulations in place across the 28 markets surveyed.
