Recognised as the largest deployment of such technology in Finland to date, this ambitious project will see all new RAY gaming installations equipped with the latest chip & PIN and contactless payment technology. 

RAY, a non-profit-making organisation raises hundreds of millions of Euros per annum for charitable causes in-country. Over 21,000 slot machines are situated in thousands of nationwide locations, including hotels, restaurants, cafés, service stations, markets, kiosks and arcades. 

The proceeds are used for promoting health and social welfare in Finland, and in 2015 over 309 million Euros will be granted to organisations supporting these causes. The fund allocation is guided by the RAY funding strategy, an agreement with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and applicable legislation. 

The Spire Payments and Poplatek Oy solution will see state-of-the-art SPp30 card payment devices installed in gaming locations, allowing customers to pay securely by debit card. Utilising Spire Payments’ latest technology and an application developed by Poplatek, the solution will accept both chip & PIN and contactless payments, with winnings being paid directly into the customer’s account. 

Poplatek Oy, a Finnish payment service provider, was founded in 2009 and has grown rapidly due to an ever-increasing customer base. Its services include payment processing (thanks to its own payment gateway), provision of POS devices, payment application development, service and support. This significant project has seen Poplatek Oy develop the bespoke RAY application and terminal management system, while also coordinating the logistics and support for this national project. 

Timo Kiiskinen, COO in RAY: ‘We are excited to work with Spire Payments and Poplatek Oy on this project. The installation of the latest payment technology will ensure we can provide further value added features to our customers in the future.’ 

Mikko Virtanen, Managing Director of Poplatek says: ‘This project is a significant milestone for our business and has been possible thanks to the extremely powerful and flexible Spire Payments development tool kit (inSPire) utilised by our technical team to develop the RAY application on the SPp30. Deployment has already begun and we envisage this as the first step in a long and successful relationship with Spire Payments and RAY.’ 

‘We are delighted to be part of the RAY project which has been made possible by the local capabilities of Poplatek Oy, the SPp30 platform and our Linux based software development toolkit (inSPire SDK) which promotes both rapid and secure application development. This not only demonstrates the ability for our partners to rapidly develop customer-specific payment solutions, but also Spire Payments’ commitment to meet the demands of the latest technologies, support our international customer base while also enabling continued global growth for our business.’ explains Kazem Aminaee, CEO and President of Spire Payments.