{"id":777019240,"date":"2024-09-23T08:11:11","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777019240"},"modified":"2026-04-22T05:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:54:12","slug":"casinos-in-uae-mgm-resorts-submits-licence-application-for-abu-dhabi-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/casinos-in-uae-mgm-resorts-submits-licence-application-for-abu-dhabi-casino","title":{"rendered":"Casinos in UAE: MGM Resorts submits licence application for Abu Dhabi casino"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MGM chief executive Bill Hornbuckle has confirmed the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

United Arab Emirates.- The US casino giant MGM Resorts<\/strong> has filed an application for a licence to operate a land-based casino in the United Arab Emirates. In a keynote at the Skift Global Forum in New York, MGM chief executive Bill Hornbuckle<\/strong> confirmed that the operator had a UAE casino licence application in Abu Dhabi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the UAE has created a federal gambling regulator, the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA)<\/a>, Hornbuckle noted that the approval of casinos will come down to the opinion of the ruler of each individual emirate. He said he hoped to hear from Abu Dhabi later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hornbuckle seemed optimistic about the prospects of MGM\u2019s application, noting that it has a \u201clong history with the region\u201d. It originally worked with Dubai World <\/strong>on the CityCenter <\/strong>project on the Las Vegas Strip, while MGM Resorts has a property under development with Hospitality and Leisure on Jumeirah Beach <\/strong>in Dubai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hornbuckle suggested that the Jumeirah could also accommodate a casino \u201cif Dubai wants gaming\u201d. Although he noted that the emirate has yet to form an opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GCGRA was established a year ago with Kevin Mullally<\/strong>, a veteran of US gambling regulation, as chief executive. Mullally spent 13 years at the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC), serving as its executive director from 2000 to 2006. He then spent 17 years at Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), serving as general counsel, director of government relations and later vice president of government relations and general counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, the UAE\u2019s federal gambling regulator has only issued a lottery licence<\/a>. The Game LLC, operating under the UAE Lottery name, was granted a licence to offer a range of lottery games. It has visited the site of Wynn\u2019s development on Al Marjan Island<\/strong>, Ras Al-Khaimah, but has yet to respond to the licence application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wynn Al Marjan Island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Wynn Resorts<\/strong> is developing an IR, Wynn Al Marjan Island<\/a>, in Ras Al Khaimah. A representative previously said the company was assessing the required criteria to make a licence application and the GCGRA has reportedly visited the site, but no licence has yet been granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complex is expected to feature 22 restaurants, lounges and bars, a theatre with in-house productions, a 15,000-square-metre shopping esplanade, a spa and a 7,500-square-metre meeting and events centre. Construction began in early 2023 under the direction of UAE-based main contractor ALEC Engineering and Contracting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week ago, the company announced Tom Roelens <\/strong>as chief operating officer (COO), David Patent <\/strong>as executive vice president of casino operations and Sherri DeSalvio<\/strong> as vice president of pre-opening planning and strategic initiatives. Roelens will oversee the IR\u2019s non-gaming operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a LinkedIn post, he said: \u201cI am honoured and excited to join Max Tappeiner<\/a> and the Wynn Al Marjan Island team. I am thankful to Craig Billings and Max for the opportunity and look forward to working with this world-class team to expand Wynn Resorts to a new territory as the first gaming operator in the UAE.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MGM chief executive Bill Hornbuckle has confirmed the move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":9219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"MGM Resorts has formally applied for a land-based casino license in Abu Dhabi, UAE, as confirmed by CEO Bill Hornbuckle, signaling a significant market entry for a major US operator. Concurrently, Wynn Resorts is progressing with its integrated resort development in Ras Al Khaimah, awaiting its own license, while the newly established GCGRA navigates the federal and emirate-level regulatory landscape for gaming approvals. This development underscores the UAE's strategic pivot towards integrated resorts and the evolving regulatory compliance frameworks in the region.","focusai_entities":"MGM Resorts, Bill Hornbuckle, Dubai World, Hospitality and Leisure, General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), Kevin Mullally, Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC), Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), The Game LLC, UAE Lottery, Wynn Resorts, ALEC Engineering and Contracting, Tom Roelens, David Patent, Sherri DeSalvio, Max Tappeiner, Craig Billings","focusai_location":"United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al-Khaimah, New York, Las Vegas Strip, Missouri","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"UAE Regulatory Outlook","query":"What specific governance frameworks and regulatory compliance challenges might MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts encounter given the dual federal and emirate-level approval process in the UAE?"},{"label":"Market Entry Strategy","query":"How might the competitive landscape evolve in the UAE's nascent gaming market, and what are the projected GGR and NGR implications for early entrants like MGM and Wynn?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,158,16334],"tags":[16615],"class_list":["post-777019240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-mgm-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019240","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=777019240"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777019283,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019240\/revisions\/777019283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777019240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777019240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777019240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}