Insight FINLAND’S NEW LICENCE
work with much lower maximum bets than Casino Helsinki. However, the Finnish State now believes that one of the businesses that will benefit most from this Russian tourism is the casino business, which of course is forbidden in Russia apart from in the four gambling zones.”
The prospect of a second casino was made possible following some key changes in legislation. The new Lotteries Act brought in last year has allowed RAY to increase the number of gaming machines that it operates by 3,000.
RESTRICTIONS FALL IN FINLAND
Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY) is to announce the name and location of its South East casino by the end of this month
After 31 years of regulations restricting Finland to just one international casino, Raha–automaattiyhdistys (Ray), Finland’s Slot Machine Association and the owner of Casino Helsinki, is evaluating locations for a second casino to be located outside Helsinki.
The new venue will be located on the South East coast as RAY looks to attract a plethora of Russian tourists from over the border, keen to visit a casino.
The Association is currently analysing 15 proposed locations which it will whittle down to just three during June before announcing the winning bid at the end of June. The new venue, which would actively target the St Petersburg region of Russia, could have up to 500 slots and 90 table games.
Casino Helsinki is located right in the center of the capital of Helsinki where it operates a globally unique policy with all profits being distributed to support health and welfare work with more than 1,000 organisations benefitting each year.
The decision to add a second license was thaken by the Finnish Government last year following the evaluation of a staggering influx of Russian tourists keen to play casino games. Gaming has, of course, been ostracised to four remote,
and as of yet, undeveloped casino zones in Russia. St Petersburg is some 820km from the nearest gambling zone, Kaliningrad, as the crow flies, a route which has to pass through three different countries. The 230km journey to Finland clearly provides a much more appealing travel time.
IN 2010, 76,000 RUSSIAN
TOURISTS VISITED SOUTH-EAST
FINLAND. IN 2011, THIS ROSE TO 1.4M, QUITE AMAZING FIGURES.
Janne Peräkylä, Executive Vice President and COO of RAY, explained the decision “In 2010, 76,000 Russian tourists visited south-east Finland. In 2011, this rose to 1.4m, quite amazing figures. Analytical forecasts tell us that visits from Russian tourists will grow and grow. In Finland we have only been allowed one casino since 1991, although we have around 80 gaming arcades around the country that
“The state feels that the image of casino gaming is now really poor in Russia with people thinking that casinos always translates to mafia involvement,” RAY’s Executive Vice President added. “We believe that the Finnish reputation can be trusted and can change Russian opinion and attract Russian customers to come and gamble in Finland. There are 7m people living around the St Petersburg area with no legal gambling. Russians have always gambled. It is just a question of them knowing where to gamble and which operators they can trust.”
“The state feels that
the image of casino gaming is now really poor in
Russia with people
thinking that casino always translate to mafia involvement. We believe that the Finnish reputation
can be trusted and can change
Russian opinion
and attract Russian customers to come and gamble in
Finland. There are 7m people living around the St
Petersburg area with no legal
gambling. Russians have always
gambled. It is just a question of them knowing where to
gamble and which operators they can trust.”
JANNE PERÄKYLÄ, Executive Vice
President and COO of RAY.
Despite RAY’s success in the centre of Helsinki, the Southeast casino will not be a copy of Casino Helsinki. “We want to listen to Russian travellers,” Mr Peräkylä explained. “The Southeast of Finland is very different to Helsinki and a Russian traveller coming to South East Finland will be very different to a Russian traveller who comes to Helsinki. We have the option of placing up to 500 slots in the new casino along with 90 table games, but before we decide we will listen carefully to our target market.”
Ray is in a good position to invest in a new casino. Despite the global ecnomic downturn, Casino Helsinki has performed well in the last year, recording gross gaming revenue of €28m in 2011, up 36 per cent on 2010’s figures.
Visitation as a whole over the last year has been up 10 per cent with 75,000 unique visitors. RAY has also successfully implemented an on-line casino into its offering where every week it hosts Internet poker tournaments which culminate in a live final in Casino Helsinki. It is planning to bring a mobile offering into the equation by the end of the year.
The main driving force has, however, been slot machine income. Revenues generated from machines in partner premises reached €572.9m in 2011. On average, Finnish players spent €122 per resident on slot machines last year, up from €7 in 2010.
July 2012 PAGE 29
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