Finnish state-owned gambling company Veikkaus has recently included NHL broadcasts in its offering.
Veikkaus started showing NHL games in December. PDO
VeikkausTV started showing NHL matches in December and announced in March that it would increase cooperation with the world’s best ice hockey league with a new contract focused on marketing.
The NHL is significant for Veikkaus, as it is the company’s second most played sports series and is popular among young adults. At the same time, Veikkaus fills the gap left by the broadcast contract that ended and showed, among other things, La Liga.
– Especially the younger target group, 18–24 year olds, is interested in the NHL, says Veikkaus’ contact manager Juha Laasila.
Veikkaus justifies offering sports broadcasts by saying that other gaming companies do the same.
– We do the same business as international betting companies. I don’t see that it should be further justified. We are trying to offer benefits to loyal customers.
Bittimössö?
The hockey leagues NHL and SM league are the most played leagues in Veikkaus. Veikkaus image bank
NHL games are also shown in Finland on Elisa Viihde Viaplay and occasionally on the Yle channel. Laasila says that the purpose of Veikkaus is not to tread on other people’s toes with puck broadcasts, but rather to develop a betting service.
– Viaplay, for example, makes high-quality, expert studios and its matches are explained in Finnish. The picture is also of high quality. I don’t feel that our broadcasts would compete with Viaplay’s broadcasts, Laasila states.
VeikkausTV’s image quality is deliberately kept low.
There are flaws in the quality of VeikkausTV’s broadcasts. For example, the game shows of Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen cannot be viewed in full definition. PDO
– There are certain limitations associated with it. One is that the image quality is limited to a certain level. It is perfectly watchable on mobile and laptop, but it is not intended to be transferred to TV. It is mentioned in the contract clauses that we cannot offer that possibility.
You can’t put the NHL broadcast on the whole screen and offer post-broadcasts of it either. An important thing for many, the narration, is included in the games, but only in English. Betting cannot affect the narration language.
– The broadcasts come directly from the sender of the stream and the NHL reports are therefore in English. Besides, adding commentary would increase the delay, which of course we don’t want, because there is often a live bet available during the broadcast.
A game account with money is required to watch VeikkausTV.
– The claim comes from broadcast rights. It’s not Veikkaus’ trouble for the customer. The aim is to fulfill the condition that the customer has money in the game account and thus the opportunity to play, says Veikkaus’ contact manager Juha Laasila.
This winter, the prices of sports packages became a topic of conversation, when Elisa Viihde Viaplay raised the price of its Total package, which includes sports, from 39.99 euros to 44.99 euros.