Yolo Group closes gray market gambling brands to pursue UAE licenses
Yolo Group has confirmed plans to close its gray market online gambling brands, Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino.io, as it proceeds toward securing two vendor licenses in the UAE.
The decision marks a turning point for the company, which built much of its multibillion-dollar success in unregulated markets.
In a Substack post on Tuesday, founder Tim Heath explained Yolo is in the “final stages of securing two UAE B2B vendor licenses” and moving towards a single regulated brand under Yolo.com.
However, the shift will come at a cost, with hundreds of jobs expected to be lost across its B2C arm, Yolo Entertainment.
Heath said, “It has become abundantly clear that domestic regulators who are offering licenses are not keen on other group operations continuing to operate in pre-regulated markets.” He added, “In other words, you cannot be white and grey; you have to pick a side. This means a crossroads has been reached, and a decision must be made.”
The new Yolo.com platform will be launched via the group’s licensed land-based Bombay Casino in Tallinn, Estonia, creating what Heath described as a “seamless digital arm”, and providing “a clear narrative and sharper focus in licensed, regulated markets – where we firmly believe the future of gaming lies.”
Further plans include adding streamlined wallet systems, MiCA-compliant crypto payments, and expansion into licensed markets such as Canada, Sweden, and Finland.
MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) is the European Union’s recently introduced regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, it requires platforms holding or transacting crypto to be licensed at an EU level and is applicable across the bloc.
The UAE also has a fairly robust framework in place. Speaking at SBC Summit last week, Yolo Investments Commercial Director Mark Robinson highlighted that the company was “heavily doubling down in the UAE region” due to its progressive attitude towards crypto.
Speaking on the ‘Cryptocasinos & Emerging Markets – The Boom Continues’ panel session on Wednesday September 17, Robinson said he was excited about the regulation emerging from the UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority and expected that regulation to become “the gold standard”.
While acknowledging the difficulty of closing the established brands, Heath called the move a step toward delivering the “crypto casino experience to regulated domestic markets.”
Commenting on LinkedIn yesterday, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming analyst Alun Bowden, described the decision as a “seismic shift” for the crypto gambling sector.
In other news, cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com partnered with fantasy sports operator Underdog earlier in the month to launch sports prediction markets across the US.
Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
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The Backstory
Inside Yolo Group’s pivot from gray markets to UAE licensing and what it signals for crypto gambling
Why the UAE became the new prize
Yolo Group’s decision to shut down its gray market mainstays Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino.io and consolidate under a single regulated brand reflects the centrifugal pull of an emerging regulated center: the United Arab Emirates. The company said it is in the final stages of securing two B2B vendor licenses and will relaunch under Yolo.com via its licensed Bombay Casino in Tallinn, Estonia, a move it framed as aligning with the future of licensed crypto gaming. Founder Tim Heath outlined the strategy in a Substack post, signaling a break from a multibillion-dollar run built in unregulated markets and acknowledging that regulators will not tolerate operators straddling both sides.
The shift tracks with momentum inside the UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority as suppliers and operators position for first-mover advantage. Finnish supplier Fennica Gaming recently secured a gaming-related vendor license, underscoring the UAE’s rapid market formation and the lure for content providers that can plug into licensed operators. Yolo executives have called the UAE’s crypto stance progressive and likely to set a standard for digital payments at scale. At SBC Summit, Yolo Investments’ Mark Robinson cast the jurisdiction’s forthcoming rules as a potential “gold standard,” a view that dovetails with Yolo’s plan to integrate MiCA-compliant crypto flows and streamlined wallets across regulated markets.
Industry analysts see the turn as consequential beyond one company. Eilers & Krejcik’s Alun Bowden labeled the move a “seismic shift” for crypto gambling in a LinkedIn post. By surrendering entrenched gray brands to gain regulatory cover in the Gulf and expand in Canada, Sweden and Finland, Yolo is betting that jurisdictional credibility and payments clarity will outweigh near-term revenue and headcount reductions. The company’s plan is to reframe its crypto-first model within licensed environments and let compliance become a commercial advantage.
Regulatory gravity from FATF pressure to app bans
Behind the UAE opportunity is a wider compliance tide that has made straddling gray and white markets more costly. Even as the Philippines exited the Financial Action Task Force’s gray list in February, Moody’s warned that online gambling and crypto channels remain exposed to money laundering risk and will demand sustained oversight. That warning resurfaced in Manila this month when the central bank said persistent illegal online gambling could push the country back onto the global watch list. After banks ordered apps to delink from gambling sites, unregulated traffic surged while regulated platforms lost players, according to research by The Fourth Wall, which published the data alongside an e-wallet delinking analysis.
This is the new operational reality for offshore-heavy operators: payment friction, AML scrutiny and political pressure that can whipsaw customer flows overnight. For a crypto-led brand, that means either doubling down on anonymity and risk or redesigning the model for markets that tolerate crypto under licensing regimes. Yolo’s plan to align with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets rules and a UAE framework that recognizes digital assets is a direct response to that calculus. It aims to secure bank and processor cooperation while competing on product rather than arbitrage.
Tribal and domestic resistance reshapes the map
Resistance to online expansion is not just an AML story. In the United States, tribal operators are mobilizing against real-money online gaming that can erode local casino economics. Laguna Development Corporation became the first tribal corporation to join the National Association Against iGaming, citing risks to community funding from a handful of scaled online operators with few local obligations. The stance, outlined in Laguna Development’s announcement, reflects a broader defense of land-based revenue that supports elder care, scholarships and public safety in New Mexico, where gambling outside tribal casinos is illegal.
The pressure is sharpened by the size of the sector. Tribal gaming revenue hit record levels in fiscal 2024, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission, raising the stakes for any policy that shifts play online. That dynamic helps explain why some operators will find fewer friendly jurisdictions for unlicensed expansion and why the value of regulated routes in willing markets like the UAE rises. For companies with crypto at their core, the political acceptability of payments methods is inseparable from where and how they operate.
The industry playbook consolidates under regulation
Yolo’s consolidation to one licensed brand is part of a broader playbook: build national or regional legitimacy to unlock distribution, payment rails and marketing at scale. In the United States, daily fantasy operator PrizePicks has advanced that strategy by stacking approvals, most recently securing licenses in Puerto Rico and Maine, with a footprint now touching 47 jurisdictions. While the products differ, the regulatory logic rhymes. Licensure brings durability, a clearer path to partnerships and fewer shocks from payment bans or platform removals.
For Yolo, the stakes are immediate. Shuttering legacy brands will cut jobs and near-term revenue, but it removes a barrier to UAE entry and aligns the company with regulators who view dual-track operations as unacceptable. If the UAE’s framework proves as functional as early vendor approvals suggest, and if MiCA-standard crypto rails reduce compliance friction, Yolo’s regulated-first strategy could become a template for crypto casinos seeking mainstream footing. In a landscape where AML bodies and local constituencies are reshaping the rules, the calculus is shifting from reach at any cost to licensed growth with defensible payments—and the UAE is where that bet is being placed.
