Finnish gambling sales ease in H1-2017

The Finnish gambling monopoly Veikkaus, formed earlier this year by merging Ray and Fintoto with Veikkaus (see previous bulletins), has reported a 0.5 percent y-o-y decline in first half 2017 online and land gambling sales at Euro 2.1 billion, and a drop in profits over the period of 3.3 percent to Euro 665.7 million.

On the positive side, CEO Olli Sarekoski noted that the registered player base now exceeds 2 million punters, around 67 percent of the nation’s adult gambling population. The new online facility proved especially attractive to gamblers, generating an average of well over half a million players a week, and improvements continue, he said.

The company is also planning the imminent launch of a new loyalty program designed around a chip-based card,

Sarekoski attributed the reduction in sales to an 8.2 percent decline in lottery action at Euro 764 million, brought on by smaller jackpots that discourage ticket buyers in two major products.

Overall slots and instant games delivered a 4.2 percent y-o-y increase in sales at Euro 801.6 million, whilst skill games action generated improved sales, up 5.2 percent at Euro 541.5 million.

Football pool sales rose 11.1 percent, and fixed odds gaming sales were up 16 percent.