It was announced on Thursday that Finland’s new gambling company will be called Veikkaus. That has been decided after a comprehensive consumer survey had been conducted. The new gambling organization will also feature a new brand and a new logo, with those set to be introduced in stages. The new brand’s first elements will be introduced to gambling customers early in 2017.
Last year, it became clear that the country would merge its three state-owned gambling operators into a single organization that would regulate and monitor the provision of gambling operations within Finland’s borders.
Up until recently, Raha-automaattiyhdistys or better known as RAY was responsible for the casino operations conducted in the country, Veikkaus Oy was in charge of the national lottery as well as of local betting operations, and Fintoto Oy managed pari-mutuel betting options.
At present, the merged entity operates under the name FRV Evo Oy. That name will be replaced by the new one – Veikkaus on January 1, 2017. The merged business will have an approximate of 1.9 million gambling customers and is expected to annually generate more than a billion euros. Here it is also important to note that the new gambling organization will operate in compliance with Finland’s responsible gaming system.
As mentioned above, the new name has been selected after a multi-stage study has been conducted with 4,300 Finns answering questions about what they expect from the country’s new gambling operator. Results from the survey showed that two-thirds of those interviewed found Veikkaus a particularly suitable name as gambling customers were familiar with it and it represented “security and responsibility.”
According to the participants in the study, it was really important that the new gambling operator provided players with strong consumer protection, that it used gaming control tools, and contributed to the well-being of Finland’s residents.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Chairman of the FRV Evo Oy Board, said that responsibility and reliability will be what the merged company will be based on. The official further noted that it will be their main goal to make sure that the revenue from the country’s gambling operations would benefit residents.
Veikkaus is to start operations on January 1, 2017. A Chief Executive of the merged company is expected to be appointed later in June. The new gambling organization would employ almost 2,000 people.
