Finland’s Veikkaus to cut 400 staff

Finnish national betting firm Veikkaus is looking to streamline its staff complement as retail continues to be impacted by the popularity of the online sector.

In addition, the State-owned betting monopoly is assessing its restaurant table gaming operations with a view to phasing them out,

Veikkaus said it had initiated redundancy talks with 1,300 of its total 2,000 staff complement, and is targeting a cut of 400 employees, most of whom are part-time and more than half of which are situated in the Helsinki region.

The reorganization aims at reforming the company’s cost structure to provide for more efficient operations in the face of ever-accelerating digital competition.

“Players are increasingly switching over towards the digital channels and, as a result of the structural changes in retail trade, our point-of-sale network has experienced a drastic decrease over the past few years,” Olli Sarekoski, president and CEO of Veikkaus, said.

The online channel now accounts for 42 percent of Veikkaus’ total turnover and services over 600,000 customers each week, the company revealed.