UAE lottery tickets go on sale for first draw

The first UAE Lucky Day lottery draw will have a grand prize of AED100m (US$27.2m).

United Arab Emirates.- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched its first national lottery – and the first form of legal gambling in the Arab nation. Dubbed Lucky Day, the first draw will be held on December 14 and will have a jackpot of AED100m (US$27.2m).

Tickets are on sale online priced at AED50 (US$13.6). The lottery is also selling scratchcards priced from AED5 to AED50 with prizes ranging from AED50,000 to AED1m. 

The UAE Lottery is operated by Momentum subsidiary The Game LLC, which received a lottery licence from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) in July. Smartplay International received a vendor licence in October.

Bishop Woosley, director of lottery operations at The Game LLC and former director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, said: “Our mission at The UAE Lottery is to inspire people to dream big, aligning with our slogan, ‘Dare to Imagine.’ We aim to create exciting experiences while promoting responsible play. Following a rigorous GCGRA evaluation, our team remains committed ensuring that all operations meet global standards, guaranteeing fairness and transparency from the draw process to the selection of winners.”

The GCGRA was established last September with Kevin Mullally, a veteran of US gambling regulation, as chief executive. In October, the regulator granted Wynn Resorts a commercial gaming facility operator licence for Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah. Wynn has said construction is progressing as expected, with 55 per cent of the structural concrete now complete and the team working at a pace of one floor per week. It aims to top off the structure by December 2025.

Meanwhile, MGM Resorts has filed an application for a licence to operate a land-based casino in Abu Dhabi.