{"id":777033768,"date":"2025-10-28T11:15:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T14:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777033768"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:43:39","slug":"uae-to-allow-one-online-gaming-licence-per-emirate-under-new-framework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/uae-to-allow-one-online-gaming-licence-per-emirate-under-new-framework","title":{"rendered":"UAE to allow one online gaming licence per emirate under new framework"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The move mirrors the Emirates’ land-based casino model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

United Arab Emirates.- The General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) is preparing to introduce regulated online gaming<\/strong> in the United Arab Emirates. The regulatory framework would allow a maximum of one business-to-consumer (B2C) licence per emirate, according to reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The model, which mirrors the structure introduced for land-based casinos, grants each of the UAE\u2019s seven emirates the authority to decide individually whether to issue a licence. To date, only one land-based licence has been awarded, going to Wynn Resorts for its US$5bn integrated resort in Ras Al Khaimah<\/a>. MGM has applied for a licence in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts suggest that only two or three emirates are likely to move forward with online gaming licences in the near term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GCGRA has been issuing business-to-business (B2B) vendor licences. Recent approvals include iGaming platform operator Hub88 Holdings and sports data and analytics firm Sportradar<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Sri Lanka cites progress on creation of new gambling regulator as report shows rise in online gaming<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The move mirrors the Emirates’ land-based casino model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777027171,"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' General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) is preparing to introduce regulated online gaming, proposing a B2C licensing model that allows a maximum of one operator per emirate, mirroring its land-based casino framework. While B2B vendor licenses are already being issued to companies like Hub88 Holdings and Sportradar, analysts anticipate only a few emirates will initially proceed with online gaming licenses. This development signifies a structured approach to market entry, with decentralized B2C licensing authority.","focusai_entities":"General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, GCGRA, Wynn Resorts, MGM, Hub88 Holdings, Sportradar","focusai_location":"United Arab Emirates, UAE, Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.75), tech_data (0.85), marketing_crm (0.75), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"B2C Licensing Criteria?","query":"What specific criteria will individual emirates utilize to evaluate B2C online gaming license applications, beyond the 'one per emirate' rule, and how will this impact market access for prospective operators?"},{"label":"Regulatory Consistency Framework?","query":"Given the decentralized B2C licensing authority, how will the GCGRA ensure a consistent regulatory and enforcement framework across all participating emirates to maintain market integrity and player protection?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,156,158,16334],"tags":[23703,20479,24785],"class_list":["post-777033768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-asia-news","tag-licence","tag-online-gaming","tag-uae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033768","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777033768"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777033791,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033768\/revisions\/777033791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777027171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777033768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777033768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777033768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}