Wildz Group plans to launch all 11 brands in Finland after winning licence

Wildz Group CEO Sam Brown has outlined the company's plans for Finland after the Malta-based group was told last week that it had been granted a licence for the country's new online gambling market. Wildz is the first operator to publicly announce a licence approval, with Hippos ATG also having confirmed one.

Finland will open online gambling to private operators for the first time on 1 July 2027, ending the monopoly model. Around 80 companies have applied for licences so far, and more decisions are expected soon as the process nears eight months since the application window opened.

Brown said the group intends to enter with all 11 of its brands and will probably apply for several more licences. He said it is not fully confirmed, but the brands are likely to be divided into a few groups spread across multiple licences. In his view this would help manage risk and leave room for M&A later. Wildz currently runs its flagship Wildz Casino brand in Germany's regulated market, and Brown described the Finnish licence as a "big win" that fits its strategy of focusing on markets that are fully locally regulated or heading that way.

The CEO called Finland a very casino-focused, slots-heavy market that matches the group's profile, noting that live casino is less popular there. Wildz plans to launch a couple of sportsbook products, but casino will be the priority. Competitors will include operators with long histories in Finland's grey market, as well as current monopoly holder Veikkaus, which has also applied for a licence and benefits from its existing customer base and brand recognition. Hippos ATG has previously said it expects casino to be the most competitive vertical.

Brown said Wildz does not plan an aggressive spending push at launch, pointing to past experience when markets opened. He argued that excessive marketing can prompt regulators to impose very strict advertising rules, and that a measured entry is the more sustainable route.

The group is building its Finnish technology stack fully in-house, effectively developing 11 .fi products. Brown said the work is on track and that the aim is to avoid offering a stripped-down .com product, instead building from the ground up around what the National Police Board expects in terms of compliance.