Report: More than 40% of Finns in favour of Veikkaus government bailout
Nearly one third of respondents cast doubt over safety of retail return by monopoly operator post Covid-19
More than 40% of Finns support the government’s decision to financially bail out struggling Finnish gambling monopoly operator Veikkaus, according to a new survey.
The survey, commissioned by Kasino Curt and carried out by Finnish market research firm Bilendi Oy, found 38% of Finns were against the government-led bailout, which was approved earlier this year.
In March, Veikkaus closed all retail gambling operations as part of the Finnish government’s Covid-19 lockdown measures. In addition, all Finnish sports were suspended, leading to significant drop-offs in the firm’s operating revenue.
The Finnish monopoly operator resumed retail operations this week, ending a three-month absence from the market.
Forty-six percent of survey participants said they approved of Veikkaus’s decision to resume operations, with 30% saying they did not approve. The remaining survey participants were undecided about the resumption of operations.
Bilendi Oy senior client service manager Janne Juntunen highlighted the absence of Covid-19 from the survey questioning, but cited concerns among respondents about returning to gambling following the pandemic.
“The coronavirus epidemic was not mentioned in conjunction with the survey for impartiality reasons, but the respondents may have thought that the restart of Veikkaus’s gambling machines is a sign of the post-Covid-19 era,” said Juntunen.
A total of 1,000 Finnish adults responded to the survey, and the sample was weighted by age, gender and place of residence to represent the Finnish population on a national scale.
Last year, a similar survey conducted by Bilendi Oy revealed that 40% of participants wanted the current monopoly model, which limits Finnish gambling to Veikkaus, to end.
A further 39% of survey participants said gambling advertisements should be prohibited.