Billionaire Tim Heath victim of kidnapping attempt in Estonia

Gambling magnate Tim Heath was attacked by men posing as painters who planned to abduct and take him to a remote hide-out as part of a kidnap and possible extortion attempt.

Yolo Group founder Tim Heath was attacked in Estonia in late July.

Australian billionaire Tim Heath was attacked in Estonia as part of a kidnap and possible extortion attempt on the cryptocurrency gambling magnate.

Mr Heath, who is a member of The List – Australia’s Richest 250, was attacked at his apartment in the Estonian capital Tallinn in late July, according to local media reports this week.

The 46-year-old was reported to have set upon by men posing as painter-decorators and wearing hi-vis vests, who had plans to abduct Mr Heath and take him to a remote hide-out about 65km from Tallinn.

Mr Heath, a cricket enthusiast, was able to fight off the attackers and foil their attempt.

Local Estonian English website ERR News translated a report by investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress, which filed a story on court proceedings in Tallinn.

“It was only after a second-tier Tallinn Circuit Court hearing concerning one of the suspects, Georgian citizen Ilgar Mamedov, who had been held in custody since the attack and was requesting release”, ERR News said about the Eesti Ekspress report.

The criminals had reportedly bought equipment they needed to kidnap Mr Heath from a hardware store, and had also rented a car.

They had waited in a stairwell to attack the Australian billionaire.

The Airbnb they had rented, the location they had planned to take Mr Heath, had security cameras – which reportedly has made it easier for Estonian police authorities to track their movements.

The attempted kidnapping happened just over a week before the grand opening of Mr Heath’s $100m Bombay Club, a land-based casino for high rollers that features opulent gaming rooms, guest rooms, cigar lounges and restaurants.

Mr Heath’s Yolo Group is based in Estonia, where it employs more than 1000 people.

The Bombay Club is his latest venture in gaming, which includes his gambling site Sportsbet.io.

He started with an online poker website in 2013 that would become Bitcasino.io, a runaway success.

Last year Sportsbet.io announced a partnership with English Premier League soccer team Newcastle United.

Sportsbet.io handles roughly €2.5 billion betting turnover per month alone and makes more than €100 million in pre-tax earnings before interest and tax, depreciation and amortisation annually.

Mr Heath has in recent years also started a venture capital business that has around $1bn invested in about 100 fintech, gambling, payments, cryptocurrency, blockchain and other industries related to online gambling, which is now his primary focus even though he maintains ownership of Yolo Group.

His fortune is estimated at $2.15bn.

“The event in question is a personal matter and Yolo Group’s business operations remain entirely unaffected. The Founder has no involvement in day-to-day company operations,” a Yolo Group spokesperson said in a statement when approached by The Australian.

Mr Heath’s Estonian holdings are a far cry from his hometown in the grain-belt town of Warracknabeal in the Wimmera, with a population of 2,400 people. He later attended Melbourne’s prestigious Scotch college before completing a joint IT and commerce degree at the University of Melbourne.

He left Australia, hitched a ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stepped off in Russia to compete in a national poker championship (finishing fifth) then settled in Tallinn.