Yabo Chronicles

Can Yabo shine again?

Once upon a time, "neck" (Yabo) represented the glory of the Southeast Asian gambling industry. This platform, which rose with the 2018 World Cup, used the classic tactics of "agent fission + high dividends + group support + capital investment" to rise from obscurity in a short time. Small agents turned over, dog pushes became divine, and countless people achieved class leaps through it. It not only reshaped the Philippine spinach ecology but also expanded to Cambodia and Dubai, becoming the "third pole" besides Dafa and AG.

However, five years have passed, and the tide has risen and fallen. This once carrier-sized giant, which owned 57 sub-platforms and tens of thousands of employees, is now scattered across the world amidst policy, public opinion, management, and industry turmoil. Can its glory be restored? Perhaps we need to start from the beginning.

2018–2020: Takeoff and Peak

The 2018 World Cup was the starting point of Yabo's fate. With a high dividend policy of up to 55%, an agent chain of agent fission, group recruitment support, and the still-open policy window in the Philippines, a rapidly expanding spinach ecology was born. Numerous "small Karamis" from China became overnight millionaires through high rebates and platform bonuses, pulling up teams, setting up studios, and grabbing and opening markets. Yabo's stronghold in three places in the Philippines and Cambodia quickly took shape.

By 2019, Yabo had completed its corporate embryonic form: headquarters management, sub-platform division of labor, and gradually professionalized network services, with the total number of employees exceeding 5,000. At that time, Yabo was called the "biggest dark horse of the post-AG era" within the industry.

By 2020, the pandemic and national lockdowns did not stop its progress. Instead, it took advantage of the limited external channels to further strengthen control, expanding to 57 sub-brands and a workforce of over a hundred thousand. Dozens of office buildings, all high-end residential dormitories, uniform health checks for new employees, and quarantine arrangements in four-star hotels. 12–14 months' salary became normal, recruiting a dog pusher rewarded 100k, and it was common for a group leader to receive an advance of hundreds of thousands upon joining. Post-95s and post-00s gradually replaced the previous generation of spinach backbones, taking up management positions, some becoming directors and market leaders.

This was Yabo's most glorious period, and its brand value was most mythologized within the industry.

2021–2022: Fall from the Altar

However, a turning point was quietly approaching.

Starting in 2021, as China explicitly defined the spinach industry as illegal, main channels such as WeChat and QQ underwent comprehensive upgrades in control, leading to broken traffic and collapsed channels. Additionally, Yabo's heavy investment in the 2021 European Cup failed to convert successfully, resulting in direct losses. The platform internally cut functional positions, failed to pay the 13th salary, and reduced tissue usage from one pack a day to three days a pack, and even to two packs a month, becoming the industry's joke of the year.

That year, Yabo made the domestic hot search, with several middle managers named for "pushing the ball," "eating customers," and "flipping resources." The organizational structure quickly shrank, cutting down from 57 sub-platforms to just over twenty, canceling network development, stopping all support, and turning to conservative operations, hoping for a comeback at the 2022 World Cup.

In the first half of 2022, the platform underwent significant equity changes, the original leader resigned, and the platform was sold to another tycoon. After the new management took over, they immediately integrated resources, unified headquarters management, and cut a large number of redundant teams and subsidiaries. Departments in multiple cities in Cambodia, Dubai, and the Philippines were cut, and the organization was concentrated in a few platforms such as "Huatai," "Mofang," and "Huating," and Yabo was renamed "Kaiyun."

The organization amputated its limbs to survive, and many old employees voluntarily returned to their countries to avoid the limelight. Some completely left the circle, some stayed behind with "ball signals" and debts, directors were demoted to group leaders, and group leaders returned to the grassroots. The once ubiquitous "one happy happy" disappeared.

2022 Second Half–2023: The World Cup's Last Glimmer

In the second half of 2022, as the World Cup approached, but due to the ban, Chinese nationals withdrew early, leaving many positions vacant. The management turned its attention to Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, and other places to recruit heavily for the battle. It must be said that Yabo still possessed organizational and combat capabilities. During the World Cup, the company made a huge profit again, with small customer service monthly salaries of 3–4w, dog pushers taking down 10w+ as the norm, and group leaders doubling overnight. The customer service center expanded to "1–8 departments" at one point.

However, after the World Cup, the market returned to normalcy, and the bonuses faded. In 2023, with no major events, the platform began to transition to "precision and risk control orientation." Internal reorganization continued, no longer recruiting Chinese nationals for key positions, strengthening supervision mechanisms: system reinstallation every month, anti-insider, anti-resource loss; personnel who had been in performance positions were not allowed to transfer to functional roles, and internal control gradually tightened.

2024–2025: Withdrawal and Dispersal Under the Gambling Ban

What truly led Yabo to a comprehensive contraction was the dramatic change in Philippine policy in 2024.

That year, negotiations between the Marcos Jr. government and gambling industry representatives broke down over the compliance pricing of POGO, and the government turned to a hardline approach, issuing a nationwide gambling ban: all POGO businesses must leave the country within a set period, or face criminal charges.

Under pressure, Yabo urgently formulated a withdrawal plan, reducing its workforce by 75% within 15 days. The once bustling stronghold turned into streets full of people dragging luggage to catch flights. Filipino children broke down as they bid farewell to their parents; families, offices, and living systems that had been rooted in the country for many years disintegrated overnight.

Entering 2025, the remaining teams dispersed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Dubai, Laos, and other places, continuing to operate in a "very small, very covert" manner. Market leaders traveled low-key, WeChat only added necessary colleagues, and moments were rarely posted, fearing being "reported" or implicated. The once-popular slogan "Gambling will not die, spinach will not die, spinach will not die, the neck will not die," gradually faded in reality.

Future: Can Yabo Rise Again?

Platforms may fall, brands may change, but people may not disperse.

Yabo's glory cannot be replicated, but the resource network, organizational capabilities, and operating teams formed behind it have not completely disbanded. They have just moved into deeper waters and farther battlefields. If policies in some places relax again in the future, and some port becomes a new springboard, Yabo's system, tactics, and connections might "resurrect from the dead" in another identity.

However, it is certain that the next rise will not be as high-profile as in 2018, but more likely to be secretive, professional, and compliant: even seemingly "not like spinach" on the surface.