FINNISH SLOTS MONOPOLY HAS A GOOD 2010

Posted 2/20/11: Entry into online gambling market late last year has still to seriously impact the numbers
 
Finland's state gambling monopoly RAY (Rahaautomaattiyhdistys), which extended its land gambling interests by entering the online sector late last year, published its 2010 numbers this week, recording a useful 3.7 percent growth in revenues to Euro 674.5 million – up Euro 24 million on the 2009 results.
 
Seventy nine percent of those revenues came from slot action, which contributed Euro 536 million to the revenue stream from just over 17 000 slot machines in 7 747 land locations.
 
Those overall figures can be expected to grow significantly as the company's venture into online gambling in partnership with software developer Playtech gathers momentum.  Launched in November 2010, revenues from this new enterprise had already achieved a profit of Euro 2.4 million when the company closed its books for 2010.
 
The group profit at RAY last year grew Euro 7.1 million to Euro 382.2 million, accompanied by a relatively modest 5 percent increase in operating costs that included the set-up of the sally into online gambling through Ray.fi.