Veikkaus, a Finnish monopoly operator has announced revenue for the full year of 2021 at EUR1.10bn ($1.21bn/PS911.5m). This represents a 12.7% drop compared with 2020.
This revenue drop was due to a 5% decline in the market share of the monopoly, which fell from 74% to 74%. The unlicensed sector accounted for the remaining 26%.
The total amount generated by casino games is EUR323.4m, a decrease of 30.1% compared to 2020. The EUR142.9m was generated by slot machines, and the EUR35.7m came from other casino games.
The revenue from lottery games decreased by 5.0% to EUR627.6m. The weekly lottery games generated EUR383.6m and the daily lottery games EUR187.6m. Scratchcards brought in EUR56.3m.
The betting industry generated EUR148.9m, an 8.6% increase. The revenue from betting games (multiplayer, live bets, and long bets) was EUR86.3m, with the remainder being EUR62.5m.
The revenue increased by EUR3.6m due to other business profits, but the lottery tax of EUR60.3m decreased it. The lottery tax in 2019 was 60% less than the 2020 rate.
The cost of the entire year was EUR128,2m. This represents a 24.0% decrease from last year. This was mainly due to the decrease in sales, commissions and placement fees of EUR83.4m, a 24.3% drop. Costs for Target Cooperation fell 8.5%, to EUR11.5m. Lottery costs dropped 12.8%, to EUR9.0m.
Other sources of income included authority costs, product marketing and other advertising.
The employee benefits expenses totaled EUR90.6m. This represents a 4.1% increase year-on-year.
The other operating costs, which include service purchases, depreciation, impairment, and others, fell 18.1%, to EUR144.0m.
The net profit after all expenses was EUR680.3m. This is down just 0.04 % year on year.
Veikkaus’ revenue decreased in an year when it increased its emphasis on responsible gaming.
Veikkaus published a study yesterday (2 March), which showed that the rate of problem gambling in Finland had dropped from 1.8% between November 2020 and November 2021. The previous year, problem gambling was 1.8%.
Veikkaus published data in November 2021 that revealed a “new low” for problem gambling after its introduction of slot machine loss limits.
Finland’s loss limit for slot games and other online games has been in effect for some time. In August 2021, this restriction was expanded to include physical slots as part of the easing measures put into place due to Covid-19.
The Finnish Constitutional Committee declared in December 2021 that Veikkaus’ monopoly was not justified when it came to amendments proposed to Finland’s Lotteries Act.
The bill was originally filed in September of 2021 and if it becomes law all payments made to operators other than Veikkaus would be blocked.
