Finland Slots Association Introduces New Payment System - 06-06-08

June 6 - In a move intended to reverse declining revenues, the state-owned Finnish slots association, RAY (Raha Automaatti Yhdistys), said that it would be introducing a new cash-free payment system to at least 3000 slot machines in the country, as part of a trial.

Instead of paying for their entertainment with coins, Finnish slots players will be able to use a debit card. In the initial stages of the trial, the slot machines will only accept Visa Electron cards issued by specific Finnish banks, and credit cards would not be an acceptable form of payment.

RAY's director, Pasi Riihilahti said: "According to the Federation of Finnish Financial Services, nowadays people use cash for just over a third of their everyday purchases. That's why we are offering players this new method of payment. It's now increasingly rare for consumers to carry coins, and this has started to impact RAY's slot machine and game revenues in recent years. According to our research, over 40 percent of our players state that a shortage of coins makes it difficult for them to play. The lack of coins prevents playing by those consumer segments who only play occasionally for fun."

Should the trial on the first 3000 slot machines prove successful, RAY will roll out the system to all the slot machines across the country.

The company also stated that the new system would enable the state to verify the age of players, and would also control compulsive gambling by setting the gaming limit default to 50 Euro per day (with the option of extending the limit to 100 Euro per day).

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