Wildz Says It Has Finland's First Online Gambling Licence. The Regulator Hasn't Said So Yet

The first name on Finland's list of licensed online gambling operators appears to be Wildz. For now, that comes from Wildz itself.

The Malta-headquartered group says the National Police Board granted its licence in a letter issued on 15 October, making it, by its own account, the first operator approved for Finland's regulated market. The licence runs for five years and takes effect on 1 July 2027, the date Finland ends the Veikkaus monopoly and opens online casino and betting to private operators.

"We're looking forward to July 2027!" chief executive Sam Brown said, calling the news a reward for the team's work. Wildz runs a stable of casino brands, among them Wildz, Caxino, Wheelz, Spinz, Chipz, Tuplaus and Blingi, plus a sportsbook under Wildz Sports.

What we don't know

The National Police Board, which handles licensing under Finland's new Gambling Act, had not publicly confirmed the Wildz Finland licence when the news broke, and iGaming Business said it had asked the authority for comment. Nor is it clear yet whether the board will publish a register of licensees, or how many other applications have been decided. Until the regulator speaks, "first licence" is a company claim, not an official record.

Finland gambling licence 2027: a crowded queue

Wildz will have plenty of company. Applications opened in March 2026, there is no cap on the number of licences, and each application carries a €29,000 processing fee. By 22 September, 75 applications had been filed, well above early expectations, and Finnish daily Iltalehti put the count at 78 on 10 October. Veikkaus itself is among the companies that want to keep a place in the market it used to own outright.

That is a lot of licences for a small market. Sweden, with roughly twice Finland's population, has awarded around 89. Analysts quoted by iGB have already raised the risk of oversaturation once the market opens next summer.

For operators with a Finland gambling licence 2027 application in the queue, the Wildz announcement is a useful signal that decisions are starting to arrive, roughly six months after the window opened, which matches the processing time the authorities had indicated.