Wicked Witch

What is Wicked Witch?

“You shouldn’t necessarily need 100 people and millions of euros of infrastructure to have a great idea and turn it into a successful slot,” Curwen says.

Lower barriers to entry could significantly widen the pool of potential game creators. Curwen sees opportunities not only for established and emerging studios, but for operators, suppliers, entrepreneurs and potentially entirely new entrants.

“The big change is that technology can increasingly provide the infrastructure,” he says. “The creator provides the idea. And I think that will make the industry much more interesting.”

About Wicked Witch

From July 2027, the company will lose exclusivity over betting and iCasino products, which will become licence-based, while retaining exclusive rights for lottery games, scratchcards, slot machines and physical table games. 

The company has committed to paying market-based compensation for exclusive operations, estimated at around €1 billion for a 10-year licence period, with a significant front-loaded payment scheduled for 2026.

In further preparations for the competitive market, Veikkaus this week joined the market’s trade body, the Finnish Gambling Association, which has long lobbied for market liberalisation.

About Wicked Witch

One customer built its own casino landing page and wanted to use Cubeia’s APIs to make it work with the platform. “Another wanted to use Cubeia’s player account management system to build its own functionality, including personalised bonuses,” Grenstad recalls.

The idea is less about Cubeia providing another AI tool than making its platform and data accessible to AI infrastructure customers are already building themselves. Cubeia is now running a pilot based on the landing-page use case.

This was not necessarily on the horizon just six months ago, Grenstad says, but now he believes Cubeia should ultimately be able to “say yes” when customers arrive with products built using their own AI tools.