Hippos launches Hippos ATG betting firm to shore up Finnish harness racing

'We are at a critical level,' Hippos CEO Tomi Himanka warned, YLE reports. In spring 2025 Hippos, the umbrella organisation for harness racing in Finland, formed a gambling company called Hippos ATG to secure new revenue as race tracks face closures across the country.

The sport's annual funding has fallen from about €40 million to roughly €30 million. Hippos ATG has applied for a licence with the Police Board to offer racetrack betting, sports betting and casino games. The plan is to channel 60 percent of profits to Hippos, with the remainder going to partner ATG. Himanka says increased betting income would encourage people to breed horses and improve race quality, and help restore gate and hospitality revenues that have declined as viewers watch from home.

Tracks are already adjusting. Teivo Racecourse in Ylöjärvi will begin converting into an events centre after the Kuninkuusravit and will demolish some stable buildings as the city prepares the land for housing. The conversion follows earlier tensions at Teivo when the track tightened schedules and ended rental contracts in March. Jukka Heiskala, chairman of Tampereen ravirata oy, says the event-centre concept helped secure a lease extension from Ylöjärvi and that similar commercial reinvention is likely the only way larger tracks survive, while smaller regional courses may manage on racing income for a time.