Finnish lottery operator posts slight revenue fall

The second quarter of the year saw turnover fall by 0.3% and profit increase 2.5%.

Finland.- Veikkaus, the Finish National Lottery operator, posted a slight decrease in revenue during the second quarter of the year. The company said that even though profit increased 2.5% to €505.5 million, turnover fell 0.3% to €1.58 billion.

President and CEO Olli Sarekoski said that the company is preparing for large-scale changes in the coming years. He explained that drastic changes in the operating environment, the ever-accelerating international competition, and the company’s planned shift towards comprehensive identification on decentralised slot machines require Veikkaus to carry out special measures and development work.

“At the end of last year we launched a gaming restriction concept covering online gaming, which is unique even in the international setting. The transition period of adopting the concept ended at the end of March. According to our preliminary estimates, the gaming and money transfer limits have helped us prevent problem gambling and protect high-risk gamblers,” explained the CEO, and added that the gaming restriction concept reduced the growth of the GGR in Veikkaus’ digital channel between €10 million and €15 million 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,” he added.