First operator announces receipt of Finnish online gambling licence

A Malta-based igaming operator says it has successfully completed the Finnish gaming licensing process.

Finland.- Wildz Group has become the first operator to publicly announce that it has received an online gambling licence in Finland. The licence would grant the Malta-based company permission to operate when the country’s regulated market opens next year.

Licensed igaming in Finland is due to launch on July 1 2027 under the oversight of the new Finnish Gambling Act, ending the monopoly of state-owned Veikkaus over online gambling in the country. The licence application process opened on March 1. Last month, the National Police Board reported that it had received 75 licence applications by September 22, more than had been expected for a country of 5.6 million people.

Writing on LinkedIn, Wildz Group board member Lasse Rantala said the company had successfully completed the licensing process and that preparations for the launch in July 2027 were continuing.

The National Police Board has not yet publicly disclosed the outcome of any licence applications. It remains unclear whether the regulator intends to publish a list of approved operators or if decisions on other applications have already been finalised.

Applicants were required to pay a €29,000 processing fee and there was no cap on the number of licences available. Several operators had announced that they had applied, including Veikkaus and Hippos ATG.

Finland will be one of the last European jurisdictions to dismantle a state monopoly model in favour of a liberalised gambling market following Sweden’s transition to an open licensing system in 2019. The high interest in licences has raised concerns about potential market saturation. Meanwhile, some industry figures continue to question some of the measures presented by the government for the new regulatory framework for online gambling in Finland. Some argue that the cooling-off period and ban on affiliates would harm market channelisation.