In Finland and state-run gaming operator Veikkaus Oy has announced that it is to maintain the temporary closure of the vast majority of its slot parlors owing to the ongoing health threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The organization began locking down operations across Finland in late-November as the Scandinavian nation experienced a dramatic spike in the number of locals coming down with the potentially-deadly ailment. The operator subsequently extended these closures impacting its network of Pelaamot and Feel Vegas gaming clubs for the remainder of 2020 while moreover continuing to keep its flagship Casino Helsinki facility shuttered.

Mounting proscription:

Veikkaus Oy used an official Wednesday press release to detail that its establishments in the central region of Kainuu have now been added to the list of facilities being temporarily closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It explained that these operations have joined compatriots in areas such as Satakunta, Paijat-Hame and North Ostrobothnia in being shut down until receiving the all clear from the country’s Social Affairs and Health Ministry.

Welcome revival:

However, the operator pronounced that its venues in the neighboring but sparsely populated region of Central Ostrobothnia have been given just such a go-ahead and is to join fellow facilities in Northern Savonia, Lapland and Eastern Savonia from later today in at long last again being able to welcome punters.

Definitive determination:

Jari Heino serves as Channels and Sales Senior Vice-President for Veikkaus Oy and he used the press release to declare that a Finnish region’s coronavirus infection rate must have ‘returned to baseline’ before authorities will allow entertainment venues such as slot parlors to re-open. He furthermore proclaimed that such facilities are ‘closed immediately’ if the local situation worsens via a determination that the local hospital district has ‘entered an acceleration or spread phase.’