Veikkaus Oy was the Finnish national

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...

agency. It was fully owned by the Finnish

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and had an exclusive legal betting license on

lotteries A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

and

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Sports bettors place their wagers either legally, through a sportsbook or bookmaker (colloquially known as "bookies"), or illegally through priva ...

in Finland. Veikkaus was managed by the Finnish

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, which shared money earned by Veikkaus with various organizations. In 2010 Veikkaus gave 462.7 million euros for the Ministry of Education to share. The rules of the games and gaming itself are controlled by the Finnish

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

. On January 1, 2017 Veikkaus merged with

RAY Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an ...

and Fintoto. The new company that was founded as a result is also called

Veikkaus Veikkaus Oy is the Finnish government-owned betting agency which holds a monopoly in the country. It was formed in 2017 as a merger of three previously existing betting and gambling agencies of Veikkaus, Fintoto and Finland's Slot Machine As ...

History

Veikkaus organises 20 different games, the most popular being the Finnish national

lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

, which generates more than a third of the company's total sales. Other important games are ''Football pools'' and ''Fixed Odds Betting'' (forms of

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

s betting), and the ''Ässä'' scratch tickets. The Finnish

is responsible for allocating the profits produced by Veikkaus's activities in a socially optimal way between amateur sports, the

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

youth work Youth work is a community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose. In general, it provides an environment where young pe ...

. These profits exceed a million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s daily, and constitute a significant part of

government expenditure Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...

in these fields. Veikkaus was founded in 1940 by the

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the Finland national football team, men's and Finland women's ...

and the

Finnish Workers' Sports Federation The Finnish Workers' Sports Federation (, ''TUL'', , ''AIF'') is a Finland, Finnish amateur sports organization founded in 1919. In addition to the competitive sports, TUL focuses on youth activities and youth education as well as offering activit ...

under the name ''Oy Tippaustoimisto AB''. The agency first offered only sports betting, but in 1971 the Finnish national lottery was kicked off, and it proved a huge boom. Today, approximately seventy per cent of Finnish people say they take part in the ''Lottery'' at least annually.

Speden Spelit ''Speden Spelit'' (formerly ''Spede Special'', ''Spedestroika'' and ''Speden sallitut leikit'') is a television game show presented by Spede Pasanen. It aired first on the Finnish channel Kolmoskanava in 1988 and from 1993 to 2002 on MTV3. His ...

(1992-2002) was attached with the gambling of national betting agency Veikkaus. The show was closed down shortly after the death of

Spede Pasanen Pertti Olavi "Spede" Pasanen (10 April 1930 – 7 September 2001) was a Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor, who has been called an "all-around entertainer". During his career he directed, wrote, produced or acted in ...

. In August 2009 Veikkaus's Web site was the target of a heavy DDoS attack lasting several days and the agency blocked its site and services from foreign-based users.Yle: Veikkaus Blocks Site from Users outside Finland
/ref>

References

External links

Veikkaus Oy
- The official site.
Veikkaus briefly in english

CSR & Annual Report 2010
- Corporate Social Rensonsibility report & Annual Report 2010 {{authority control Government-owned companies of Finland Gambling in Finland Lotteries 1940 establishments in Finland Companies disestablished in 1999

History

See also

References

External links