Finnish betting agency Veikkaus has signed Dallas Stars player Mikko Rantanen as its new brand ambassador. The appointment comes alongside the renewal of Veikkaus’ partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) in Finland.
Rantanen will appear in Veikkaus marketing and hockey-related content, as well as selected events and customer activities. The Finnish player is a Stanley Cup winner and has established himself among the country's most prominent active NHL players.
The separate NHL agreement continues Veikkaus' existing relationship with the league in Finland. It allows the operator to feature NHL players across its channels and produce additional content involving the league and its players.
Veikkaus will also continue showing NHL games through VeikkausTV during the season.
The agreements add to the operator's existing involvement across Finnish ice hockey, which includes domestic competitions, national teams and other hockey-related partnerships. Veikkaus identifies ice hockey as its largest sport for betting activity.
The latest deals also follow another sponsorship agreement announced earlier this month, when Veikkaus became the main partner of Lapland War, a Finnish feature film produced by Backmann & Hoderoff.
The film, directed by Aku Louhimies and loosely based on Antti Tuuri's novel Rauta-antura, focuses on Finland's conflict with Germany during the closing stages of the Second World War. Veikkaus previously supported Louhimies' 2017 film The Unknown Soldier.
The two announcements highlight Veikkaus' continued use of sports and cultural partnerships as part of its domestic marketing activities.
They also come as Finland prepares to replace Veikkaus' current online gambling monopoly with a licensing system, which will open parts of the market to competing operators.
Veikkaus Group’s sales revenue rose 1.1% to €471.3m ($548m) for H1 2026, while operating profit increased 3.2% to €227.7m and net profit grew 2% to €234.2m
