Veikkaus to end table gaming activities in restaurants and to cut 400 jobs amid digital push

Veikkaus is planning to end table gaming activities in restaurants. In addition, the company is planning to reorganize the support functions of restaurant game tables, as well as the retailer and chain cooperation.

In connection with these changes, Veikkaus will initiate cooperation negotiations that cover 1 300 persons. The estimated personnel cut is about 400 persons, most of whom are part-time employees. The reorganization aims at a reform of the company’s cost structure and more efficient operations.

– We want to ensure Veikkaus’ future in the middle of the ever-accelerating digital competition. Players are increasingly switching over towards the digital channels and, as a result of the structural changes in retail trade, our point-of-sale network has experienced a drastic decrease over the past few years. This is why we are planning to introduce significant changes to our own points of sale, as well as to end the restaurant table gaming activities. In addition, we are planning to make the organization of the retailer functions more efficient, says Veikkaus’ President and CEO Olli Sarekoski.

Around a half of the employees touched by the cooperation negotiations are working in the capital region, and the rest of them elsewhere in Finland. The planned changes will not affect Veikkaus’ retailers’ point-of-sale network.

• Veikkaus has ca. 2 000 employees.
• Veikkaus has a total of 187 restaurant game tables in 162 restaurants.
• Veikkaus has ca. 6 500 retailer points of sale. As a result of the restructuring of the retail trade, the number of the points of sale in the network has decreased by about a thousand since 2012. The decrease has been consistent for the past ten years.
• Veikkaus.fi offers about 200 different online casino games digitally, including all the table games.
• Gaming is moving towards the digital channels. Of Veikkaus’ turnover, ca. 42 percent come from the digital channels. Veikkaus.fi online service has ca. 600 000 customers every week.

About Veikkaus:

Veikkaus is a company owned entirely by the Finnish State and one of the ten biggest companies in the country in terms of turnover and profit. The company’s turnover amounted to EUR 3 231 million in 2017, of which ca. 42 percent came from the digital channels. Veikkaus’ games can be played in its online casino, at thousands of points of sale all over Finland, in numerous game arcades and Casino Helsinki. Veikkaus.fi is one of Finland’s largest consumer online stores with up to 700 000 weekly players. Veikkaus has more than two million registered loyal customers, which is ca. 45 percent of adult Finns. The entire profit from Veikkaus games, ca. EUR 1.2 billion a year, is used for the benefit of people living in Finland. Veikkaus has thousands of beneficiaries all over Finland and employs ca. 2 000 professionals of the gambling and digital industries.