Veikkaus to establish internal ethics council to police CSR practices

Finnish gambling monopoly operator Veikkaus will set up an internal ethics council to evaluate business practices, following its decision to suspend certain parts of its advertising.

The names of the individuals appointed to the council have yet to be confirmed, but Veikkaus said its executive management will prepare a “road map” concerning the appointments, developments and mission of the council by the next board meeting.

In addition, Veikkaus has updated its guidelines to include a so-called responsibility metric in their reward system designed to track addictive behaviour.

Veikkaus previously operated an ethics committee but this was disbanded when the company merged with the Slot Machine Association (Ray) and Fintoto in 2017.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chairman of Veikkaus’ board, that corporate social responsibility principles were essential in all Veikkaus’ operations, particularly as the firm was state-owned.

“The company has continuously taken measures to implement its responsibility and the Board has regularly evaluated the potential occurrence of gaming disruptions,” Kallasvuo added.

The decision to cease advertising, first revealed last week was in response to widespread public outcry over a series of adverts featuring a therapist seemingly recommending that players gamble online.

This backlash prompted Veikkaus CEO Olli Sarekoski to admit the company had made mistakes in the campaign, which he confirmed was not in keeping with company standards, as set out by the Finnish National Police Board.

It has led once again to calls for an end to Veikkaus monopoly on gambling in Finland and the opening of the Finnish market to international operators for the first time.