Veikkaus H1 GGR remains flat as CEO touches on monopoly’s end
Finnish operator reports dips in operating profit and points to increased lottery tax in the Nordic market
Veikkaus has posted a 1% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its H1 2023 gross gaming revenue (GGR) to €519.3m.
The Finnish monopoly operator improved on its H1 2022 performance when it reported GGR of €515.9m.
However, despite the flat YoY revenue, profit and operating profit fell to €311.9m and €310.2m, respectively.
Profit fell 5.7% YoY while operating profit dipped 6.2%. Veikkaus said the decreases were due to an increase in costs, especially lottery taxes and developments.
The state-owned operator noted the 1.6 percentage point increase in lottery tax – from 3.4% to 5%. Veikkaus paid €25.9m in lottery tax, up €8.4m on H1 2022.
Despite the losses, CFO Regina Sippel said the results were expected and highlighted the positives in Veikkaus’ digital operations.
During the first six months of the year, 54% of GGR was derived from the group’s digital arm.
Sippel said: “Veikkaus’ result and performance during the first half of the year were as expected, and we can be satisfied with these as a whole. The first half of the year was positive, especially in Veikkaus’ digital channel.”
Veikkaus subsidiary Fennica Gaming said future prospects looked promising, with online scratchcards provided by Fennica Gaming and developed by the Finnish lottery operator available in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia and Germany.
Timo Kiiskinen, managing director of Fennica Gaming, added: “Fennica Gaming’s corporate clients have been very satisfied with the quality of games developed by Veikkaus and the modern technology and reliability of the game engine and platform.”
Elsewhere, Veikkaus CEO Olli Sarekoski touched on the upcoming transition to a multi-licence market in Finland, which is due to occur by January 2026.
The CEO said: “The most important thing is that more gambling can be channelled into licensed offerings than before and we think that the licence system best supports this goal and the development of more responsible gambling.”