Veikkaus among the first gaming companies to calculate the carbon footprint of Lotto
Veikkaus is one of the first gaming companies in the world to have calculated the carbon footprint of its iconic Lotto game. Climate assessments of our games are an important part of our journey toward becoming a carbon-neutral company.
Veikkaus is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its operations and contributing to climate change mitigation. We have conducted emissions calculations since 2020, and in 2023 we set science-based targets (SBTi) to guide our efforts more systematically. Our goal is to become a carbon-neutral gaming company by 2035.
- Our mission at Veikkaus is clear. We want to lead the way in promoting climate-smart practices and offering innovative solutions within the gaming industry. Emissions tracking helps us better understand our environmental impact, the most emission-intensive areas, and the direction in which we are developing as an organization, says Susanna Saikkonen, Vice President, Sustainability at Veikkaus.
Digital play leaves a tiny climate footprint
Veikkaus began its product-level carbon footprint calculations with Lotto and plans to expand this work to cover other games and domestic slot machines.
The carbon footprint calculation, based on a life cycle assessment, was conducted by Veikkaus’ in-house sustainability team and validated by Sitowise. The assessment covers Lotto’s physical paper products, their transportation to points of sale, the purchase transaction, the draw, disposal of the products, and the digital infrastructure and energy use. The production of the sales terminals and the broadcast of the draw were excluded from the scope.
The results show that one physical Lotto purchase generates 5.82 g CO₂e, whereas a digital Lotto play produces just 0.025 g CO₂e. This means the emissions from digital play are only about 0.4% of those from physical play.
The biggest climate impact of physical Lotto play comes from the paper products themselves (78%), followed by the purchase event – primarily the energy used by sales terminals (20%).
- We can reduce the environmental impact of physical play by improving the sales process. In the future, customers could choose whether or not they want a printed receipt, which would help avoid unnecessary printing and reduce the paper footprint. Thanks to player identification, every ticket is already saved in the player’s ‘Oma Veikkaus’ profile, Saikkonen notes.
Emissions have also been reduced in the purchase phase through updates to the sales terminals in 2023, which now consume significantly less energy.
