Lottery maintains the GGR lion’s share of Finland’s state-owned operator Veikkaus Group, despite a reported decline in the market size of Finnish gambling.
H1 trading saw the gambling group rake in €230m in operating profit in comparison to the €252m for the same period last year.
Total GGR was split into two segments, with lottery and land-based gaming representing 68.8% while the betting and iCasino share stood at 31.2%.
Lottery and land-based gaming stood at €318m, dropping from €331m in H1 2024. While the largest contributor, lottery-specific GGR stood at €246m, down from the €256m for the same period last year.
Retail GGR from slot machines and physical table games came at €71.3m (H1 2024: €75m), attributed to a reduction in the number of slot machines as Veikkaus undergoes a digital transformation.
Regina Sippel, Veikkaus’ CFO, said: “During the first half of the year, we have implemented Veikkaus’ strategy as planned and invested in the development of both domestic business and international growth.
Betting and iCasino GGR came at €146m, dropping from €152m for January-June 2024. Veikkaus said this was the result of “weak gross gaming margin development” across Toto games, combined with a quiet summer for international football.
What’s more, Finland’s total market value was also down 0.7% YoY, totalling €970m in GGR for the six months ending June.
Finland’s iGaming market cap was €790m in H1, with Veikkaus’s digital gambling market share dropping 1% YoY to 36%.
This minor turbulence was expected by some as Finland is gearing up to launch its own regulated licensed market in 2027. Interestingly, this factor might have inadvertently brought more players to the market.
Veikkaus reported an uptick of 25,000 registered customers in H1 compared to the same period last year, with players now amounting a total of 2,625,000.