“Internet playing has been in strong growth during the last years”

Which are Veikkaus’ main products?
Veikkaus offers approximately 30 different games, including instant scratch tickets.  Veikkaus’ main products are Lotto, Keno, Viking Lotto and Fixed Odds Betting.  Lotto is the most popular product of Veikkaus. It started in 1971 and about 70 % of Finns say they play Lotto at least sometimes. In 2009 Finns played Lotto with 476 billion Euros, which is 30, 5 % of Veikkaus’ turnover. In Lotto the player chooses 7 numbers out of 39 numbers. The Lotto draw is presented in national television channel on every Saturday evening.

After Lotto, the second popular game is Keno, which started in 2002. In 2009 Finns played Keno with about 333 billion Euros, which is about 21 % of Veikkaus’ turnover. Viking Lotto is the first multinational lottery games in the world. It started in 1993. Viking Lotto is played in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Estonia. Veikkaus offers seven different kinds or sports games. Fixed Odds Betting is the oldest and the most popular betting game of Veikkaus.

Do you offer remote games (by Internet or cell phones) too? What’s Veikkaus’ position with regards to this kind of games?
All Veikkaus’ games are offered by Internet and cellphones. The remote games establish 23 % of Veikkaus’ turnover. Veikkaus is one of the forerunners in remote games, since the Internet playing started already in 1996. In 2009 Veikkaus’ Internet service was used by 231,000 players. Internet playing has been in strong growth during the last years.
 
What can you tell us about the new Internet service that you are about to launch?
Veikkaus’ new Internet service is to be launched in August 2010. In the new service, all Veikkaus’ games will get a new appearance. At the same time, the usability of the games becomes easier. The new service includes two new games, Syke and eBingo, that are only available online. The new Internet service also offers more Live Betting than the older Internet service. With the new Internet service, Veikkaus tries to attract 900,000 visitors weekly. Nowadays Veikkaus’ Internet service has an average of 780,000 weekly visitors.

Which are your main objectives and projects for the coming months?
Our main focus is our new website and two new internet games: eBingo and SYKE (number draw once an hour).

In your opinion, which regulations and legal changes are needed in Finland?
The new gambling law will come into force by the beginning of October. The most important issue in that law is marketing done by companies without the Finnish license. The new law makes that more clearly illegal than nowadays. We have been waiting this improvement for a long time. That’s because the old law has some loopholes that make the situation uncertain for all operators offering games for the Finnish people.

Which are the main trends that you observe in the industry?
The main trends are: legal changes in Europe concerning the gaming market; Gaming and leisure time behavior of young adults in common; Progress of gaming turnover in the internet in Europe and Technical improvements in gaming market (mobile, internet, TV).