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Finland – Veikkaus controls modest revenue growth in Finland

By - 31 August 2018

Finland’s state owned gambling operator Veikkaus continues to control modest growth in its sector with revenue up 1.8 per cent to €875m for the six months to July 30 and profit increasing by 2.5 per cent to €505.5m.

Veikkaus was put in place in 2017 to unite the three state-run monopolies for lotteries, sports betting and slot machines.
The biggest surprise came with in sports betting with the World Cup failing to boost turnover which fell by 1.6 per cent to €281.4m. Betting in-store dropped by almost ten per cent whilst online and mobile betting increased by 2.1 per cent. Veikkaus online and mobile entities accounted for 42.9 per cent of the revenue with the rest going to land-based activities.

The operator pitches Finland’s overall betting and gaming market to be generating revenues of €981m with Veikkaus accounting for 90 per cent of this.

It operates 3.950 gaming locations for playslip entries, 87 Pelaamo and Feel Vegas arcades and Finland’s only casino in Helsinki although another one will be opened in Tampere. This accounts to 21,424 slot machines and 223 gaming tables.
The company said that ‘according to preliminary analyses, the game restriction concept covering online gaming has helped to prevent problem gambling successfully.’

President and CEO Olli Sarekoski: “Veikkaus is preparing for large-scale changes in the coming years. The drastic changes in the operating environment, the ever-accelerating international competition, and our planned shift towards comprehensive identification on decentralised slot machines require us to carry out special measures and development work.”

“In 2018, we are revising our strategy to secure our competitiveness in the upcoming future changes in the operating environment and the rapidly accelerating competition. The competition over customers is toughest in the digital channels; therefore success in digital business will be one of the cornerstones of the revised strategy.”

At the end of last year Veikkaus launched a gaming restriction concept covering online gaming, which is unique even in the international setting.

Mr. Sarekoski said: “According to our preliminary estimates, the gaming and money transfer limits have helped us prevent problem gambling and protect high-risk gamblers. The gaming restriction concept reduced the growth of the GGR in Veikkaus’ digital channel by ca. €10 to15m during the first six months of the year. In the future it will be important to monitor whether the restriction concept affects the gambling problems as intended, and we will also need to make use of our increasing understanding whilst developing the tools of gaming control further.”

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