Trusted partner for gaming support systems

One year ago, Veikkaus put out to tender the further development, maintenance, and on-call support of its gaming support systems. The partner chosen was HiQ, with whom the company had a long history of cooperation. Industry knowledge and strict continuity requirements were the main criteria for the tender. The gaming industry has a number of specific characteristics that need to be taken into account in the development of support systems.

"If the chosen partner did not have knowledge of the games sector, it would take a very long time to learn the laws of the games. For example, in horse games, the type of shoes put on the horses affects what is reported in the support system," explains Petri Suominen, Veikkaus Head of Partner Gaming Systems.

In betting, on the other hand, you need to understand sport-specific rules and their impact on money transactions.

"When video refereeing was introduced in football games, it means that in betting, a goal that has already been conceded may be disallowed. Therefore, transactions are not final.”

One of the major support systems for gaming is the GMS, or Game Management System, built by HiQ, which acts as a so-called mediator service.

"This multi-faceted system takes in game data, publishes winnings, makes reports to the authorities, and so on. It is a tremendous advantage for us to work with a partner who knows the many nuances of our games and is able to take them into account in system development," says Suominen.

Bank-level security solutions and seamless incident handling

HiQ's Business Director Esa Koivula says that what makes working with an operator like Veikkaus unique is the volumes that pass through the systems on a daily basis. The National Police Board closely monitors the accuracy of the operation.

"When you combine the movement of money with the huge volume of users, it goes without saying that there cannot be any mistakes or service interruptions. Security solutions must be bank-grade. In addition, systems must scale well to peak demand," summarises Koivula.

Koivula emphasises that understanding the demanding overall architecture is also important for cooperation.

"Only through long experience can you really understand how the games themselves work, what kinds of systems and processes Veikkaus has in place, and what kind of a whole is constructed from them.”

Expert, customer-oriented, pedantic cooperation

Suominen praises the long-standing cooperation. HiQ's experts work at Veikkaus' premises and are a natural part of the project team.

"HiQ's experts are knowledgeable, customer-oriented and pedantic in doing their part. They are very pleasant to work with, and our queries are always answered quickly. In exceptional situations, we can rely on the 24-hour on-call service.”

Head of Partner Gaming Systems, Veikkaus

Petri Suominen

Suominen recommends HiQ as a partner for solutions that require special precision.

"I believe that in addition to the gaming industry, the banking, insurance and medical industries, in particular, have very precise requirements that a technical partner must be able to adapt to.”