Veikkaus to establish internal ethics council

Following the controversy around advertising material from Veikkaus, the company has decided to create an internal ethics council.

Finland.- Veikkaus, the gambling monopoly from Finland, has announced that it will establish an internal ethics council. This move comes after the company was forced to suspend advertising after it received public pushback due to the message in the material.

As reported by Yle, Veikkaus administrators received the task of preparing a road map in time for the next board meeting. The company also updated its guidelines and now it features a responsibility metric in its reward system. The metric tracks addictive behaviour.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chair of the board, said: “Responsible values are integral to all of Veikkaus’ services. We have been steadily evaluating the emergence of problematic gambling trends.”

Veikkaus already had an ethics committee, but it dissolved in 2017 when the company fused with Fintoto and the Slot Machine Association. It seems as the recent incident could have been avoided if the committee was still in place.

The ads criticised by the public aired on commercial radio channels. They featured people asking their therapists if it was okay to want to experience the thrill of betting. The therapist then recommended to satisfy their desires and visit the Veikkaus website.

The decision to suspend purchased advertising affects all products except the flagship local lottery Lotto. It also doesn’t affect regional Eurojackpot and the Nordic-Baltic lottery Vikinglotto. Brand and corporate responsibility marketing are not subject to this decision.

Veikkaus seeks to reduce number of slots machines

The company is likely to reduce the number of slot machines in Finland. The reduction is a necessary move after a new legislative amendment. The amendment forces slot route operators to introduce identification verification technology to their slot machines by 2022.

This is part of an attempt to limit the adverse effects of gambling, Helsinki Times reported. “Gambling will decrease and there won’t be the same need for slot machines,” Sarekoski said.