STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept. 30, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- HiQ (Other OTC:HIQWF) (Stockholm:HIQ), the Nordic IT and management consultancy, has been commissioned to work on adaptation and integration of the OnNet Internet gaming platform for an innovative new partnership. Veikkaus and Nordea Bank recently announced a partnership enabling users of Nordea's Solo Internet banking service in Finland to play Lotto, Keno or place bets in OnNet through the Solo banking site.
Under a partnership agreement with Veikkaus (Finnish National Lottery), HiQ Softplan has developed the OnNet Internet gaming platform.
The partnership between Veikkaus and Nordea enable all the 1.2 million users of Nordea's Solo Internet banking service in Finland to play Lotto, Keno or place bets in OnNet through the Solo banking site which they so far have normally used for paying their bills and placing their stock market orders, for example. The player using Solo does not need to register himself separately as an OnNet user, nor transfer money to a player account in OnNet, but can use his bank account to pay directly for the gaming transactions. Wins are also credited directly to the player's bank account.
"Sports betting and Internet gaming is becoming more and more popular today which is a good development for us and our partner Veikkaus. Apart from the customary services, which have to be delivered with quality and favourable conditions - services like Internet gaming is an inventive way of saving your client some time as well as some effort," said Anssi Rantanen, Account Manager at HiQ Softplan.
Nordea is the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region. Nordea is a world leader in Internet banking and it has 3.1 million e-customers.
Veikkaus started Internet gaming in 1996 as the first national lottery in the world using the OnNet system. OnNet is Finland's largest e-commerce site for consumers and gives customers the opportunity to play various games of chance and skill, such as Lotto, Keno and various forms of sports betting. OnNet has over 220,000 registered users and weekly sales of just over EUR 1.3 million.
For more information, please contact:
Anssi Rantanen, Account Manager HiQ Softplan, tel. +358 9 4355 8631 Anna Svensson, CIO HiQ, tel.: +46 8 58890015, +46 704 200103
HiQ is an IT and management consultancy that focuses on high-tech solutions in the fields of communication and simulation technology. The company is a leader in these fields and the Nordic region is its domestic market. HiQ employs 475 people at offices in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. HiQ is listed on Stockholmsborsen. For more information, please visit www.hiq.se
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