Veikkaus to maintain €500 loss limit until end of year

Finland’s Ministry of the Interior has announced that the limit introduced in May will remain for the rest of 2020.

Finland.- The €500 loss limit that was imposed on many Veikkaus games in May will remain in place until the end of the year, Finland’s Ministry of the Interior has announced.

The limit, which applies to “fast-paced online games” including online lotteries, slots and bingo, and table games except poker, was due to expire on October 1.

Players are also required to set their own daily and monthly limits with €500 being the maximum limit.

Until May 1, players in Finland had loss limits of €2,000 monthly and €1,000 weekly.

Both limits were temporarily reduced to €500 in an attempt to protect players from unsustainable gambling during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The limits will now remain in place for another three months despite land-based casino gaming and slots having now resumed operations.

The ministry said in a statement: “Maximum loss limits were lowered due to the pandemic.

“The aim was to improve the prevention and reduction of gambling-related harm in a situation where time spent at home increased due to the restrictions and recommendations in force at the time, and the lack of physical slot machine and casino gaming opportunities could shift gaming to Veikkaus’ online gaming service.

“Although restrictions have been lifted, the coronavirus situation may still be associated with the risks of excessive gambling.”

The ministry explained that it believed the loss limit to be more effective than a time limit.

It said: “Monitoring and research on problem gambling suggests that, in the short term or on individual occasions, the loss of large sums is more often associated with problem gambling than high consumption over a longer period of time,” it said.

Meanwhile, Veikkaus has announced it has changed the rules for its Toto75 horse racing game to lower the smallest prize from €2 to €1.50 so that it can give out the prize more frequently.

Veikkaus has previously announced that it expects the Covid-19 pandemic to dent its profits to the tune of €300m.