Minna Maenpää, CEO of Suomen Hippos, and elected Second Vice-President of the European Trotting Union.

Recently elected Vice-President at the European Trotting Union General Assembly for 2025-2027. What are the actions do you want to push and support inside UET?

The former president of UET, Marjaana Alaviuhkola, has done an excellent job in building a more unified and significant international trotting community. Significant progress has been made in harmonizing regulations between countries in the right direction, and this work must absolutely continue. It is essential to ensure that every country truly implements and follow to the jointly agreed rules. The industry itself must be able to adapt its practices before all regulations are imposed from outside the sector.

Another key issue that every trotting country and UET must focus on is how to attract new people to the sport. This applies to owners, breeders, trainers, enthusiasts, spectators, and gamblers alike.
The main purpose of the UET is the promotion of horse breeding, trotting races, and horserace betting, as well as their integrity and prestige worldwide. The aim is great,  but it requires concrete actions in many ways. The population is aging in all countries, and if we do not attract new people to the sport, the number of participants will continue to decline.

 
The occasion to question you on the horse racing industry and horse betting market in Finland – can you update WoTA members on future regulations and organisation?

The Finnish gaming market is going to change from a monopoly system to a license market, likely at the beginning of 2027. A new gambling law is currently being prepared and is expected to be presented to the Parliament during the upcoming spring session. With this change, horse betting in Finland will also move to a license market.

Horse betting was integrated into the new Veikkaus at the beginning of 2017 when Veikkaus, Fintoto, and the Slot Machine Association were merged under one gaming company. Since then, funding for the horse industry has been provided as part of state aid. At the beginning of 2024, the connection between Veikkaus and its beneficiaries was completely severed, and since then, funding for the horse industry has come directly from the state’s general budgetary funds. Until this year, the funding has been relatively stable, but as the economic situation in society has decreased, major budget cuts have also affected horse industry funding, particularly for racetracks and prize money.

As horse betting transitions to a licensed market, Suomen Hippos has decided to establish its own company in partnership with the Swedish ATG. This company will primarily focus on horse betting, complemented by sports betting and online casino operations. The goal is to become the leading operator in the Finnish horse betting market and to gain market share in other gaming verticals as well. A larger portion of the company’s revenue will be allocated to financing Finnish trotting sports and horse breeding. The state aid has been very important to the Finnish horse industry, and will be also in the future. Because the future and funding of the industry must be considered in the long term, we have analyzed that it is essential for the industry to be able to finance itself increasingly in the future.

Can you give us some figures of the Horse racing industry in Finland?

In Finland, the main trotting track is Vermo in Helsinki, along with 18 other regional racetracks. Additionally, there are slightly over 20 summer racetracks. This year, there are a total of 401 race days.

In 2024, a total of 24,6 million euros in prize money was distributed.

Total amount of horses in Finland is ca. 70 000. The average number of active race horses is 5,200, of which warmblood trotter are 70% and coldblood, mostly Finnhorses 30%.

The number of horses bred in Finland has declined somewhat in recent years. Nowadays there is about 700 warmblood trotters and 900 coldblood finnhorses born in Finland yearly.

 How do you see horse racing and horse betting in Finland in 10 years’ time?

Trotting is great sport and I believe that in ten years, Finland will still have a thriving trotting industry, working closely with other Nordic countries and otherwise internationally as well. By that time, the decline in the number of horses will have stopped.

Our own gaming company will have achieved a significant market share as a Finnish gambling operator and will serve as the financial engine of the industry. Trotting has been renewed both as a sporting product and in terms of broad appeal.

The Kuninkuusravit (King races) will remain the crown jewel of Finnish trotting, and through the finnhorse and the diversity of the event, it will continue to be one of Finland’s most attractive summer events. Major trotting events will still attract spectators to the tracks, although some race day services will likely be tailored exclusively for competitors.

Key racetracks will function as event hubs, further strengthening the vitality of the trotting industry.
This vision of course requires that the development of the economic situation of Finland will shift in to a positive direction, as well as the growth of consumers’ purchasing power, and the success of the Finnish gaming market in the new license market. And above all, it requires that our sport has successfully renewed itself and gained new, widespread interest.

Please tell us what is your best memory of a sport (horseracing or other) event you have attended?

I have visited amazing trotting events, thoroughbred races and equestrian competition in different countries. There have been great events and super sports performances that are difficult to compare. I really enjoy great horses in all equestrian sports. But for this I must highlight the crown jewel of Finnish trotting-Kuninkuusravit. This event, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last summer, is built around the finnhorse, our native cold-blood trotter.

I am extremely proud of this event, which rotates annually across different regions of Finland and attracts nearly 50,000 spectators over the course of a weekend. It has a rich history but has also successfully evolved with the times. All horse enthusiasts should attend the event at least once, so I welcome you all to the Kuninkuusravit in Oulu at the beginning of August.