Veikkaus Sees 3% Surge in Finland's State-Owned Digital Gaming Market

Digital gaming witnessed a significant growth of 4.5 percentage points, accounting for nearly 55% of Veikkaus’ gross gaming revenue. Veikkaus directed its development investments primarily towards its digital channel, where games developed by Veikkaus’ in-house gaming studio contributed substantially to the gross gaming revenue generated by the company's online casino, eArpa service, and other offerings. Additionally, preparations were made to comply with the customer registration requirement for all Veikkaus games starting from the beginning of 2024. Veikkaus became the first gaming company globally to mandate customer registration for the purchase or redemption of physical scratch cards and lottery tickets, ensuring a safer gambling environment for all.

Veikkaus in 2023:

• The Veikkaus Group's actual sales revenue for 2023 totaled EUR 1,033.1 million, representing a decrease of 3.5% compared to 2022. This figure includes gross gaming revenue from gambling activities and turnover from other business operations.
• Veikkaus Group's profit for the fiscal year amounted to EUR 578.5 million, down by 13.7%, while operating profit was EUR 573.6 million, a decrease of 14.5%. The decline in results was attributed to increased lottery taxes, one-time cost entries from cooperation negotiations, and significant investments in the Group’s future.
• The financial profit of parent company Veikkaus Oy for 2023 was EUR 585.0 million, representing a decrease of 14.0%, with operating profit standing at EUR 580.2 million, down by 14.7%. Veikkaus’ gross gaming revenue totaled EUR 1,032.0 million, a decrease of 3.6%. This decline was partly due to Veikkaus’ responsibility measure, the identification requirement for physical ticket-based game players that came into effect in May 2023.
• The lottery tax paid to the central government on gross gaming revenue increased by 1.6 percentage points from the previous year, amounting to 5% for the fiscal year. In 2023, Veikkaus Oy paid EUR 51.7 million in lottery tax, EUR 15.4 million more than the previous year.
• Authenticated gambling accounted for 90.6% of Veikkaus’ domestic gambling activities, marking an increase of 11.1 percentage points. From January 1, 2024, all Veikkaus games can only be played by registered customers, who must identify themselves every time they play.
• Veikkaus saw approximately 2,520,000 registered customers by the end of 2023, with the number increasing by approximately 180,000 during the year.
• The ongoing trend of gambling transitioning to the digital channel persisted in 2023, with 54.8% of gross gaming revenue from Veikkaus’ consumer-oriented gambling activities originating from the digital channel, a 4.5 percentage point increase. According to H2 Gambling Capital's estimate, Veikkaus accounted for around 54% of the Finnish digital gambling market for the year, marking a 3 percentage point increase.

Regina Sippel, CFO of Veikkaus, expressed satisfaction with Veikkaus’ profits and performance in 2023, particularly highlighting the success of online games. She emphasized Veikkaus’ commitment to further development investments in its digital channel.

The most successful game group for Veikkaus in terms of gross gaming revenue was its online casino, which totaled EUR 184.0 million, a growth of 6.1%. This growth was primarily driven by successful game releases.

Veikkaus’ most-played games, Eurojackpot and Lotto, saw stable performance. Eurojackpot's gross gaming revenue remained at EUR 151.1 million, while Lotto’s gross gaming revenue amounted to EUR 136.5 million.

Starting from 2024, Veikkaus Oy’s revenues will be directed to the state budget without any pre-defined beneficiaries.

All games, including physical scratch cards, are now subject to Veikkaus’ identification requirement, marking the company as a global pioneer in responsible gambling operations. Susanna Saikkonen, Vice President for Sustainability at Veikkaus, emphasized the importance of player identification in creating a safer gambling environment, enabling the implementation of various services to prevent and reduce gambling harms.

Fennica Gaming, Veikkaus’ subsidiary focusing on international business-to-business operations, expanded rapidly in 2023. The company successfully expanded the eArpa service to new markets across three continents and eight state-owned gaming companies, with Finnish online lotteries becoming available in various regions.

Timo Kiiskinen, CEO of Fennica Gaming, expressed satisfaction with the company's performance and service level, anticipating continued rapid expansion in 2024.  Annual report, sustainability report and financial statement for 2023