Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus suspends advertising
Veikkaus has revealed the decision to suspended advertising after public pushback due to the message involved in the ads.
Finland.- Veikkaus, the gambling monopoly from Finland, has reportedly suspended purchased advertising after it received public pushback due to the message in the material. The company will remove the ads from circulation this week until the end of September, Veikkaus CEO confirmed.
The decision to suspend purchased advertising affects all products except the flagship local lottery Lotto, regional Eurojackpot and the Nordic-Baltic lottery Vikinglotto. Brand and corporate responsibility marketing is not affected by this decision, local outlet Yle reported.
Olli Sarekoski, chief executive of Veikkaus, said in a statement on Tuesday that the advertising material that will be removed from circulation was designed to run during the “royal races”, an annual harness racing championship that ends on Sunday.
The ads criticised by the public aired on commercial radio channels and 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.
“There is no reason to deny the facts. We have made mistakes. Some of our ads have not complied with the company’s agreed marketing principles. We take responsibility for them and we are very sorry for the distress we have caused. We intend to learn from our mistakes,” said Sarekoski.
The CEO added that the company is looking into its marketing processes and current policies. They will make the necessary changes and assure that this won’t happen again in the future.
SBTech secures partnership with Veikkaus
Veikkaus will revolutionise its online and retail sportsbook offering following the signing of a long-term online and retail sportsbook platform agreement with SBTech.
Following a public procurement process, SBTech scored highest across a range of criteria to form a partnership. It will significantly elevate and enhance the sports offering for Finnish players. It has already begun to integrate its sportsbook platform technology to Veikkaus’ online channel and will launch in early 2020. The launch of its award-winning sportsbook platform across the Finnish operator’s extensive retail network of more than 3,000 outlets across Finland will follow this.
SBTech’s pioneering sportsbook platform will transform Veikkaus’ online and retail sports offering driving incremental revenues and building market share. Key initiatives include an overhaul of Veikkaus’ existing pre-match and live sports betting products. Also, a bespoke UI designed for Finnish players built using SBTech’s next-generation sportsbook APIs. Tailored risk management including the integration of Veikkaus’ own trading feed is also part of the initiatives.
SBTech’s innovative sportsbook will take Veikkaus’ pre-match and in-play betting offering to market-leading standards. This will give Finnish players a choice of more than 55 sports and 2,000+ betting markets. SBTech will also deploy its latest game-changing sports innovations including new cash-out functionality. It will deploy YourBet Betbuilder for multiple sports including in-play and PulseBet, all subject to approval from the Finnish regulator.
