Monthly Archives: July 2020

Finland’s Veikkaus fails underage slots test, vows to up its game

Finland’s Veikkaus gambling monopoly has suffered yet another public relations black eye after local police revealed the company’s shoddy age-verification practices.

On Friday, Veikkaus reported that Finland’s National Board of Police had conducted a test to see how strictly the company was enforcing age restrictions in its land-based slots network. The company somewhat dryly noted that the results “leave Veikkaus with considerable room for improvement.”

The police enlisted a crop of “young looking” adults to attempt to gamble at retail gaming venues operated directly by Veikkaus as well as independent venues that host Veikkaus-controlled slot machines. If one of these pups was challenged by shop staff, the ‘youth’ was to reply that they didn’t have ID on them, while police agents monitored the interaction from a distance.

The police conducted around 300 tests in various cities in February. Only around 16% of the fresh-faced undercover agents were challenged to produce proof of age at the independent shops while the halls run directly by Veikkaus scored a significantly higher but still dismal 40%.