{"id":777010836,"date":"2023-11-03T07:34:46","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T10:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777010836"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:32:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:32:43","slug":"uae-considers-granting-a-casino-licence-for-each-emirate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/uae-considers-granting-a-casino-licence-for-each-emirate","title":{"rendered":"UAE considers granting a casino licence for each emirate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Each of the seven emirates may be granted a licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

United Arab Emirates.- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) <\/strong>is considering the possibility of granting a casino licence to each of its seven constituent emirates, according to Bloomberg. Certain emirates are already considering building casino facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the emirate with the largest international tourism industry, Dubai, reportedly does not view the introduction of gambling facilities as a top priority given the performance of its existing tourism sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Projections have suggested that gambling in the UAE could generate as much as US$6.6bn in annual gaming revenue<\/strong>. Some analysts anticipate that it could eventually outperform Singapore’s gaming market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several operators are already pressing ahead, expecting regulation to come soon. Wynn Resorts expects to open a US$3.9bn casino resort,\u00a0Wynn Al Marjan Island, in Ras Al Khaimah, in early 2027.\u00a0Craig Billings<\/strong>, CEO of Wynn Resorts, expressed the expectation of obtaining a gaming licence for Ras Al Khaimah during the company\u2019s second-quarter earnings call.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Bill Hornbuckle<\/strong>, CEO and president of MGM Resorts International, has expressed confidence in being authorised to operate a casino in the UAE. It has a project in Dubai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has already formed a gambling regulator,\u00a0the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA)<\/a>, that will govern commercial gaming and lotteries. Kevin Mullally<\/strong>, a veteran of US gambling regulation, has been named the GCGRA\u2019s chief executive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each of the seven emirates may be granted a licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The United Arab Emirates is reportedly considering granting individual casino licenses to each of its seven emirates, with projections indicating a potential US$6.6bn annual gaming revenue market. This development follows the establishment of the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) and significant investment commitments from major operators like Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International, signaling an imminent regulatory framework. While Dubai prioritizes its existing tourism sector, other emirates, such as Ras Al Khaimah, are actively pursuing integrated resort developments.","focusai_entities":"Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts International, Bloomberg, Wynn Al Marjan Island, Craig Billings, Bill Hornbuckle, General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), Kevin Mullally","focusai_location":"United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Singapore","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"UAE Licensing Framework","query":"What specific B2B and B2C licensing categories and operational compliance requirements are anticipated under the GCGRA's governance framework, and how might these vary across individual emirates?"},{"label":"Market Entry Strategy","query":"How will the potential for multiple emirate-level licenses influence the M&A landscape and greenfield investment strategies for global integrated resort operators beyond the initial commitments from Wynn and MGM?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16334],"tags":[23911,23907],"class_list":["post-777010836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777010836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777010836"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777010836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777041029,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777010836\/revisions\/777041029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777010836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777010836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777010836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}