Wildz plans eleven-brand push into Finland's reopening market

Wildz Group has been granted a licence to operate in Finland's online gambling market ahead of its liberalisation on 1 July 2027, and chief executive Sam Brown says the company is already planning a far broader push into the country than a single licence allows.

Finland is dismantling its state gambling monopoly and opening the sector to private operators for the first time. Around 80 companies have applied for licences, according to iGaming Business, and Wildz is among the first, alongside joint-venture operator Hippos ATG, to have its approval confirmed publicly. More decisions are expected as the application process approaches the eight-month mark.

Brown told iGaming Business the Finnish approval was a "big win" that fits into a wider group strategy of concentrating on markets that are either fully regulated or moving towards regulation. Wildz, which is based in Malta and runs several casino-led brands including its flagship Wildz Casino in Germany's regulated market, does not intend to stop at one licence.

“Now that we’ve been successful with one licence, we will likely also apply for several more because we will enter the market with all 11 of our brands,” Brown said. He added that the plan, while not fully confirmed, would likely see the brands split across multiple licences, a structure he said would spread risk and leave room for acquisitions later.

Brown described Finland as a market dominated by slots rather than live casino or other verticals, which he said aligns closely with Wildz's own product focus. The group intends to launch some sportsbook products but expects casino to carry the bulk of its Finnish business.

Competition is expected to be intense. Hippos ATG, the joint-venture operator working to rebuild interest in horse racing, told iGaming Business separately that it expects casino to be the most contested vertical in the new market. Veikkaus, the incumbent monopoly operator, has also applied for a licence and brings an established customer base and brand recognition from its years running both online and offline gambling in Finland.

Brown said Wildz would avoid an aggressive entry into the market, pointing to past examples of newly liberalised markets where heavy spending by a handful of operators triggered tighter advertising restrictions. “We don’t want to go in kind of guns blazing, spraying money around; we’ve seen how that goes historically when markets open,” he said, adding that a measured approach focused on product quality was the more sustainable route.

On the technical side, Wildz is building its Finnish platform entirely in-house rather than adapting its existing .com products. Brown said the group had studied the compliance expectations set by Finland's National Police Board and concluded that a ground-up build was the only way to avoid delivering what he called a “watered-down.com product.”

“We’re literally building 11 .fi products, so it’s a daunting amount of work ahead,” Brown said, adding that the group is on track and aims to launch with what he described as an industry-leading product tailored to Finnish players.