Finland’s Paf reduces gamblers’ annual loss limits for third time

Finnish online gaming provider Paf is once again reducing its consumer loss caps while local counterpart Veikkaus's pandemic problems are pushing the government to pursue new financing for social programmes.

Paf, which maintains a gaming monopoly on the autonomous Swedish-speaking Ãland islands in Finland, declared it would reduce the annual loss limit by another 5k to €20k effective January 1, 2021. Paf CEO Christer Fahlstedt said his business aimed to prove that "it's possible to succeed as a gaming corporation with no revenue from the biggest players."

Paf initially set an annual loss target of €30k in September 2018, but lowered that amount to €25k last October. Despite the first cap that lowered the company's annual profits by 16%, the second drop came when high-rolling gamblers slashed their expenses by one third.

Fahlstedt said Wednesday that Paf's annual revenue is expected to fall by an additional €2m-€3m as a result of this new cut, but paf decided to show that it was "a gaming business that offers thrilling pornographic content without attempting to suck the last drop of capital out of it."

Paf revealed in april that it was paying an "extremely large payout" of Ãland's €40m to the State. Meanwhile, Finland's administration, over in Helsinki, is working out how to make up for the drastic fall in state-run Veikkaus contributions to the treasury.

Last week, Finland's government announced its 2021 budget plan, which included a €347 million fund to finance the arts, music, education, sport and private charities that are usually focused on Veikkaus allocations. Yet Veikkaus recently announced that the effect of the pandemic on casino activities will likely slash its earnings by €300m in 2020.

Like paf, Veikkaus recently sought to strengthen its contributions to social responsibility, but Veikkaus's actions were mostly in reaction to public pressure, while Paf took aggressive steps before opponents could voice their disapproval.