Yolo Group has announced that two of its subsidiaries have achieved B2B certification in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

As per company statement, the newly-regulated UAE market offers an amalgamation of iGaming transparency and innovation, closely aligning with Yolo Group’s ambitions. 

The gaming technology firm added that at its core, the UAE’s regulatory framework – introduced a few years back with the set up of the shortly-named General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) – offers trustworthy compliance that gives players, partners, and investors alike a peace of mind.

Live88, one of Yolo’s subsidiaries to get a licence, has already moved into Abu Dhabi to open a live dealer studio – the first of its kind in the UAE. Hub88 on the other hand will serve as a licensed aggregator to manage B2C content for partnering operators.

Yolo also sees the regulators beyond the GCGRA – bodies like the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) – as contributors to a stable market ripe for investments.

To further illustrate that point, Yolo additionally announced that it is putting €250m through its investment arm towards collaborating with the ADGM that is aimed at developing fintech, gaming, and blockchain innovation.

On that note, the UAE, and the wider Middle East region as a whole, is an interesting place for gambling investments at this time due to its open policies towards crypto. Bahrain for example is already mandating a set of crypto regulations.

This is also the case in the UAE, where there is a robust crypto regulation. This means that operators looking to offer crypto may be able to do so there further down the line, as the country’s gambling regulations continue to develop. 

Currently, this is near impossible to do in Europe through a licensed approach, though Yolo Group does envision a regulated future for crypto betting under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework. 

Due to crypto’s untraceable nature, however, money passing through blockchain networks can often be linked to criminal activity. Connections between illegal gambling and cryptocurrency have also been made by various organisations, including the United Nations.

To keep the UAE’s financial ecosystem free of bad actors, its General Secretariat to the National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations Committee (NAMLCFTC) – proudly maintaining the country’s tradition of shortly-named authorities – recently partnered with PwC to confirm that its national 2024-2027 AML strategy is going to plan.