UAE Awards Licences to Yolo in Crypto Casino Market
📰 Yolo Group’s subsidiaries have officially secured UAE gaming vendor licences, marking a decisive move into the regulated crypto casino landscape in the Middle East.
🏷️ Yolo Gains Entry into Regulated Crypto Casino Market
🛠️ Two subsidiaries of Yolo Group — Hub88 Holdings and Online Gaming Services — were awarded vendor licences by the UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), enabling them to supply gaming content in the crypto casino B2B sector.
📡 With these licences, Yolo joins established vendors like Aristocrat, Novomatic, and IGT in the UAE’s emerging regulated casino domain.
💡 The licence granted to Online Gaming Services covers its brands Live88 and Onetouch.io, allowing these platforms to distribute live casino and digital content under the crypto casino regulatory umbrella.
🏛️ UAE Gaming Licensing and Industry Players
📌 The GCGRA was established following Wynn Resorts’ $2 billion casino resort announcement in 2022. The regulator only recently began issuing licences, with Wynn itself getting its licence in October. The casino sector is now formally regulated in the UAE environment.
📌 The first operator to receive a UAE licence was The Game LLC, which now runs the UAE Lottery (launched November). This move cleared the way for third-party providers to join the crypto casino supply chain.
📌 In October 2024, Aristocrat became the first supplier to receive a UAE licence. Since then, Novomatic, IGT, Scientific Games, and Light & Wonder have followed into the regulated crypto casino market. One of the more recent additions is Pollard Banknote.
🔄 What This Means for Yolo and the Market
🗣️ Yolo Group founder Tim Heath commented: “Obtaining these licences in the UAE is more than a regulatory achievement, it is a statement of intent. Yolo Group is committed to building the future of gaming on trust, transparency and world-class innovation. The UAE is setting the stage for what modern, regulated gaming should look like, and we are proud to be part of that journey.” This underlines Yolo’s ambitions in the crypto casino space.
🎰 Notably, Live88 will become the first licensed online live casino studio operating in the UAE under these new vendor permissions — a key development in the crypto casino live sector.
🔗 Yolo also has exposure to crypto: the firm introduced MiCA-compliant crypto payments at its land-based Bombay Club casino in Tallinn, Estonia. The group has previously discussed crypto’s role in gaming in publications such as Trafficology — demonstrating their longer-term commitment to crypto casino integration.
⚙️ Implications & Next Steps
📈 With Yolo now licensed, the competitive landscape in the UAE’s regulated crypto casino market broadens. Platforms and operators seeking content will have greater vendor diversity and more crypto-friendly solutions.
📉 Yolo’s licences may prompt further innovation in how tokens, blockchain, and decentralized finance integrate with gaming products — particularly as regulators weigh payment standards, fairness, and security in crypto casino operations.
🌍 For global suppliers, the move signals that the UAE is a serious frontier for regulated crypto casino expansion. Those already licensed (e.g. IGT, Novomatic) now face fresh competition from crypto-native players like Yolo.
🧩 Next steps will include content rollout, regulatory compliance audits, and forging partnerships with casino operators that want to offer licensed crypto casino products to UAE audiences.
