Hub88 and Live88 obtain UAE gaming vendor licenses
Casino suppliers Hub88 and Live88 have been awarded gaming-related vendor licenses from the United Arab Emirates’ General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority.
The approvals mean that Hub88 can provide aggregation services and Live88 can offer live casino products to licensed operators within the UAE.
Both companies operate under the Yolo Group, and the move marks their formal entry into the newly regulated gaming market.
The General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority licenses are among the first approvals issued under the UAE’s emerging commercial gaming framework, which centralizes regulation across all seven Emirates.
Live88’s authorization includes operating a live casino studio, which will reportedly make it the first of its kind to be licensed in the country.
Yolo’s B2B division Chief Executive Lara Falzon said, “Securing these licenses represents a strong vote of confidence from the United Arab Emirates’s regulatory body in our brands, our technology, and our commitment to operating to the highest standards of integrity and innovation.”
Hub88 and Live88 said they will continue to base their research and development activities in Tallinn, Estonia, while expanding operations to support regulated operators across the Gulf Cooperation Council region.
Yolo Group closed down its two gray market online gambling brands, Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino.io, last month in pursuit of the UAE licenses.
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The Backstory
How the UAE became a pivotal test case
The United Arab Emirates’ new federal gaming regulator is reshaping corporate strategy across the industry, and the latest approvals underscore the stakes. Yolo Group’s B2B brands Hub88 and Live88 obtained UAE gaming-related vendor licenses from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, allowing Hub88 to provide aggregation services and Live88 to offer live casino products to licensed operators. The approvals are among the earliest issued under the UAE’s centralized framework, created last year to oversee lottery, internet gaming, sports wagering and land-based gaming. Yolo framed the decision as part of a broader pivot to regulated markets across the Gulf Cooperation Council, with research and development staying in Tallinn as operations scale in the region.
The move did not happen in isolation. It follows a wave of early-stage licensing activity and signals how the regulator intends to supervise a nascent market while courting established brands. Scientific Games, a longtime lottery supplier, disclosed it secured vendor status to provide lottery products and services in the UAE, highlighting a strategy to import global compliance playbooks. Finishing touches on the UAE’s legal architecture have included a Memorandum of Understanding with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, as industry participants noted, pointing to cross-border alignment on standards. The groundwork explains why multinationals and crypto-native firms alike are racing to get in early.
Yolo’s break with the gray market
For Yolo, the UAE licensing marked both an entrance and an exit. Just weeks earlier, the company said it would shutter its legacy gray market brands, Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino.io, in order to clear the path to regulated expansion. In a detailed update, founder Tim Heath wrote that regulators “are not keen on other group operations continuing to operate in pre-regulated markets,” concluding the company had to choose a compliant-only strategy. The pivot, outlined in his “next chapter” Substack post, entails consolidating consumer activity under a single regulated brand at Yolo.com, launched via the group’s licensed land-based Bombay Casino in Tallinn. The decision carries a cost with job cuts in Yolo Entertainment, the B2C arm, but anchors the group in jurisdictions where long-term licenses can be defended and scaled.
Sector analysts saw the shift as a watershed for crypto-led gaming models. Alun Bowden of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming characterized it as a major turn for the category in a public LinkedIn comment, arguing that companies built in permissive environments are making hard choices to access large, regulated markets. Yolo backed that narrative with a timeline: it confirmed closures just as it said it was in the final stages of securing the UAE vendor licenses, then announced that Hub88 and Live88 had been granted approvals to serve licensed operators. The sequence links policy reality to commercial execution.
Yolo’s B2B license wins also clarify the contours of the live casino opportunity. Live88’s authorization includes operating a live casino studio, positioning it as the first of its kind licensed in the country, according to the company’s announcement. In a separate statement, Yolo said the UAE is the first regulated jurisdiction in the Gulf it is targeting, portraying the country as a blueprint for “modern, regulated gaming” and a springboard for regional expansion. That is consistent with onstage remarks from company executives who have publicly emphasized the UAE’s progressive stance on crypto and compliance.
Licenses spread as the market framework takes hold
The UAE regulator is moving quickly to assemble a diverse supply base. Alongside Yolo’s approvals, Scientific Games announced its vendor license with expectations to support “projects of national importance” through lottery programs. Meanwhile, Finland-based Fennica Gaming secured a gaming-related vendor license to provide games-as-a-service to operators, citing the UAE as a dynamic new market and a gateway to a new continent. The breadth of suppliers suggests the regulator is building capacity across verticals—lottery, slots, aggregation and live casino—while testing controls on responsible play and technology standards.
This roll call of early licensees has a signaling effect. It shows a compliance pipeline is functioning and indicates pathways for midtier studios to plug into distribution. Aggregators like Hub88 are central to that map. Their role was already expanding before the UAE approvals, evidenced by Hub88’s recent content deal with California-based studio Konquer. The partnership moves Konquer’s titles onto Hub88’s platform for international reach, offering smaller developers access to regulated markets and operator networks they could not tap alone. In an emerging jurisdiction, that model accelerates content diversity without overwhelming the regulator with one-off integrations.
Engineering a compliant tech stack
The UAE pivot is also forcing companies to retool payments and data systems for regulated scrutiny. Yolo mapped out a compliant-first technology plan as it shed gray market exposure. The company said it is developing one-wallet functionality across online and land-based platforms and intends to introduce crypto payments at its Bombay Club in Tallinn, designed to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. That approach aligns with the UAE’s interest in transparent, auditable frameworks that can accommodate digital assets without inviting regulatory arbitrage.
Yolo’s public messaging has consistently linked licensing to trust and visibility. In announcing the UAE wins, leaders framed the approvals as validation of the group’s technology and governance standards. The company’s B2B arm will maintain R&D in Estonia while deploying solutions into the Gulf, providing a controlled environment to test and scale features under European oversight before exporting them to the UAE. If successful, it sets a replicable pattern for other suppliers: build to the strictest regimes, then port to new markets as they open.
What’s at stake for operators and the region
For the UAE, the sequencing of vendor licenses ahead of broader consumer launches indicates a methodical rollout intended to limit early-stage risk. By approving established aggregators, live casino studios and lottery providers, the regulator is ensuring supply readiness and oversight hooks before operator ecosystems mature. The GCGRA’s alignment efforts, including the memorandum with New Jersey regulators, point to a strategy of importing best practices to set a regional benchmark.
For operators and content studios, the message is equally clear: there is a premium on clean compliance pedigrees and scalable technology. Yolo’s decision to close two large brands to secure UAE approvals illustrates the trade-offs many will face as more Gulf markets consider regulation. Companies that can show auditors ready-made controls, transparent payments and strong responsible gaming frameworks will have an advantage as licenses expand from vendors to full operators.
The broader market impact is already visible. Scientific Games’ lottery ambitions, Fennica’s games-as-a-service turn, and Hub88’s aggregator pipeline suggest a competitive but structured opening. For crypto-led businesses, the path runs through regulated rails, not parallel ones. That is why Yolo’s licenses matter beyond a single company: they are an early proof point that a crypto-influenced operator can make the jump, provided it accepts the discipline of licensed markets. If the UAE sustains that balance, the country could set the tone for how the Gulf modernizes gaming—measured growth, tight controls and a technology stack built to be audited, not just adopted.
