GCGRA: The UAE Gambling Regulator Explained

The GCGRA — the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority — is the UAE’s federal gambling regulator. Set up by federal decree in 2023 and based in Abu Dhabi, it has exclusive authority to license and supervise lotteries, online gaming, sports betting and casinos in all seven emirates.

It has licensed one lottery operator (The UAE Lottery), one online operator (Coin Technology Projects LLC, which runs Play971) and one casino resort (Wynn Al Marjan Island), plus 22 gaming-related suppliers on its register of 30 August 2026. Any gambling outside its licences is illegal in the UAE — for players as well as operators.

This page explains what the GCGRA is, who runs it, what it licenses, who is on its register, how its licensing and technical standards work and what it means for players. It is based on the GCGRA’s own website and press releases. For the wider legal picture, including the criminal penalties for unlicensed gambling, see our UAE gambling laws guide. Last updated: 19 October 2026.

The GCGRA at a Glance

What the GCGRA Does

In its own words, the GCGRA “holds exclusive jurisdiction to regulate, license, and supervise all commercial gaming activities and facilities in the United Arab Emirates”. In practice that means five jobs:

• Licensing — deciding who may operate gambling in the UAE and who may supply it with games and technology.
• Setting rules — the Executive Regulations on Commercial Gaming, technical standards for gaming equipment and systems, and advertising standards.
• Supervision — periodic reporting and ongoing monitoring of licensees, with investigations where needed.
• Financial crime prevention — anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing obligations under UAE federal law.
• Consumer protection — responsible gaming requirements for licensees, a complaints form, and warnings against unlicensed operators.

Its remit covers four activities: lottery, internet gaming (online casino games such as slots, roulette, blackjack, baccarat and poker), sports wagering and land-based gaming facilities. It defines commercial gaming broadly — any game of chance, or of chance and skill, where money or something of value is staked to win money or prizes — and states that adding an element of skill does not take a game outside its scope. Genuine promotional draws by retailers, where the prize is a marketing cost and products are sold at fair value, are not treated as commercial gaming; the GCGRA decides which side of the line an activity falls on.

Dubai and the other emirates have no gambling regulator of their own. Since 2023 the GCGRA is the only authority that can license gambling anywhere in the UAE.

The Laws Behind the GCGRA

The GCGRA sits on top of four layers of federal law and regulation, and it helps to keep them apart:

The criminal law has not been repealed. What the GCGRA framework adds is a licensed route alongside it: gambling offered by a GCGRA licensee, within the terms of its licence, is authorised; everything else still falls under the Crimes and Penalties Law. That is why the GCGRA can warn that people “who play unlicensed games” face penalties even though it does not itself impose prison sentences — the courts apply the criminal law, while the GCGRA licenses, supervises, fines and revokes on the regulatory side.

The 2026 Civil Code Change

A quieter change came from the civil law. The UAE’s old Civil Transactions Law (Federal Law No. 5 of 1985) had a whole section on betting and gambling, Articles 1012 to 1021. It defined gambling and betting contracts, treated gambling agreements as void, let a loser reclaim what they had paid, and allowed betting only in narrow cases such as racing, shooting and sports competitions.

The new Civil Transactions Law, issued as Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, came into force on 1 June 2026 and does not carry that section over. Nothing replaces it elsewhere in the code. Law firms that track the sector read this as clearing the ground for the GCGRA’s own rules: the civil code no longer tells courts that every wager is void, which removes a contradiction with contracts made under a GCGRA licence.

Two points matter for players. First, the change does not legalise unlicensed gambling — the Crimes and Penalties Law still applies, and the GCGRA still treats any unlicensed gaming as illegal. Second, it makes the position of licensed play clearer than that of offshore play: a dispute with a licensed operator sits inside a UAE regulatory system, while a dispute with an offshore casino has no UAE route at all.

Who Runs the GCGRA

The GCGRA is chaired by Jim Murren, the former chairman and chief executive of MGM Resorts. Its board, listed on its website, includes Chris O’Donnell, Giovanni Lega, John Kelly, Mark A. Lipparelli and William W. Grounds — figures with long careers in casino operations and gaming regulation in the United States and Europe.

The chief executive has changed twice:

• Kevin Mullally led the Authority through its establishment phase. On 6 November 2025 the GCGRA announced that he was stepping down and that the board had appointed Jim Murren as interim chief executive.
• Ciarán Carruthers was appointed chief executive on 9 June 2026. He joined from Crown Resorts in Australia, where he was chief executive, and has also overseen operations at Wynn Macau. The GCGRA credited him with restoring Crown to full licensing suitability.

GCGRA Licence Types

The GCGRA grants five categories of licence, to companies and to individuals. Some businesses need more than one.

Each operator licence covers a specific activity. That is why the register lists Coin Technology Projects twice — once for internet gaming and once for sports wagering — and why a lottery or casino licence does not authorise online casino games.

The GCGRA Register of Licensees

The GCGRA publishes its licensees on its website. The register lists companies, not consumer brands, except where it adds a trading name.

The register also lists gaming-related vendors — 20 in May 2026 and 22 by the end of August 2026. They include game and equipment makers such as Aristocrat, Novomatic, International Game Technology, Light & Wonder (LNW Gaming) and Konami; lottery specialists such as Scientific Games, Pollard Banknote and Brightstar Lottery; and online and sports suppliers such as Hub88, Sportradar and the location-checking company GeoComply. Vendors supply licensed operators; none of them may take bets from the public in the UAE.

How the register has changed

Archived copies of the register show how slowly the market has opened. In April and October 2025 the Internet Gaming and Sports Wagering sections were empty; Coin Technology Projects is listed by 7 December 2025, a week before Play971 went live on 15 December. A brand that is not on the register, or that cannot show a link to a licensed company, is not authorised by the GCGRA — our TrueWin article shows how to check.

Licensed Gaming Suppliers

Operators can only buy games, equipment and systems from suppliers that hold a GCGRA gaming-related vendor licence. The register shows which parts of the market are being built first. These are the 20 vendors listed in May 2026, grouped by what they are known for; two more were added by the end of August:

The mix follows the operator licences. Lottery suppliers arrived first for The UAE Lottery; slot and table suppliers are preparing for Wynn Al Marjan Island; and the online aggregator, sports data and geolocation firms support Play971, which must confirm that every player is physically in the UAE. The list also changes: PayBy Technology Projects LLC appeared as a vendor in 2025 and was no longer listed by December 2025.

Which Draws Can Continue Without a New Licence

When the GCGRA took over, it had to decide what to do with draws that already existed. On 9 December 2024 it announced that the two long-running airport draws — Big Ticket Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Duty Free promotions, each running for around 30 years — may continue under its supervision. All other pre-existing lotteries “will not be considered for continued operations” and were ordered to shut down. That ended the UAE-regulated weekly draws such as Mahzooz and Emirates Draw, which had paused on 1 January 2024.

Both still sell tickets online and at the airports; our Big Ticket and Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire guides explain how they work today.

How GCGRA Licensing Works

The full requirements are in the GCGRA Licensing Guide, published on its website. The GCGRA has not published licence fees.

Who Can Get a GCGRA Licence?

The GCGRA does not publish a checklist that guarantees a licence; it judges suitability case by case. Its Licensing Guide and process pages make the main tests clear:

• Integrity — the company, its owners, directors and executive officers must pass a suitability investigation. That is why key persons, corporate and individual, need licences of their own.
• Financial standing — the applicant must show it can fund and sustain the operation it proposes.
• Operational capability — business plans, compliance strategies, technical systems and a responsible gaming programme are part of the application.
• Direct dealing — the GCGRA engages only with applicants themselves, by appointment, and warns against intermediaries who claim they can secure a licence.

All three operator licensees are UAE-registered companies: The Game LLC in Abu Dhabi, Coin Technology Projects LLC in Abu Dhabi, and Island 3 AMI FZ-LLC in Ras Al Khaimah, the local company behind Wynn Al Marjan. International groups such as Wynn Resorts take part through a UAE entity rather than under a foreign licence.

The GCGRA has not published licence fees, application fees or a gaming tax rate. Figures quoted online for “GCGRA licence cost” are estimates by advisers, not official numbers. Since the Authority has granted only one licence in each operator category so far, the realistic picture is that new operator licences are rare and selective, while vendor licences are where most new names appear.

Technical Standards and Testing

Every game and system used by a licensee must meet the GCGRA’s technical standards and be certified by an approved independent test laboratory. The GCGRA has adopted the GLI standards produced by Gaming Laboratories International, covering everything from slot machines (GLI-11) and progressive jackpots (GLI-12) to interactive online gaming systems (GLI-19), sports betting systems (GLI-33), card shufflers and electronic table games. Its approved independent testing laboratories are Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), BMM North America and BMM Spain Testlabs.

For players, this is what makes a licensed game trustworthy: the random number generator and the payout rules have been tested by an independent laboratory before the game goes live, and the operator is supervised afterwards.

Advertising Standards

The GCGRA has published Advertising Standards for Commercial Gaming, which complement Chapter 17 of its Executive Regulations. Licensees must keep advertising and promotions sensitive to young people and vulnerable groups, promote responsible play, never present gambling as a way to solve personal or financial problems, and point to sources of help. Advertising by unlicensed operators — including the many international casinos marketed to UAE residents — is outside the GCGRA’s framework altogether.

If you see gambling advertised to UAE residents by an operator that is not on the register, the GCGRA’s complaints form is the official way to report it.

Responsible Gaming Rules for Licensees

Every GCGRA licensee must:

• run a Socially Responsible Gaming Programme in line with the GCGRA’s framework, audited at least every two years by a GCGRA-approved auditor;
• name a person responsible for that programme;
• educate players about the odds of winning, the risks and where to get help;
• offer player tools such as deposit limits, time and money management aids, access controls and self-exclusion;
• train staff and follow the advertising standards.

That is why licensed products in the UAE share features that offshore sites often lack: Play971 and The UAE Lottery verify identity and age, set minimum ages of 21 and 18 respectively, and offer limits and self-exclusion. Our Play971 guide shows how those tools work in practice.

Anti-Money-Laundering Rules for Licensees

Gambling is a classic route for laundering money, so the UAE has brought licensed operators inside its anti-money-laundering system. Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025 — the executive regulations of the new AML law, Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 — lists commercial gaming operators as designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs). The obligations apply when an operator handles a single transaction, or several transactions that appear linked, worth AED 11,000 or more; transactions involving only gaming chips are excluded.

The resolution defines commercial gaming operators as anyone running gaming halls, internet gaming, sports betting or lottery gaming, and expressly covers games regulated by the GCGRA. The GCGRA supervises its licensees’ compliance through its Financial Crime Prevention function. In practice the obligations include:

• Customer due diligence — identifying players and the people behind them, with enhanced checks for higher-risk customers and politically exposed persons;
• Sanctions screening against UAE and UN lists;
• Ongoing monitoring of accounts and transactions;
• Suspicious transaction reports to the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit through its goAML system;
• Record keeping and a named compliance officer.

For players this explains several things licensed operators do that offshore casinos often skip: Play971 accepts only an Emirates ID and a card in the player’s own name, The UAE Lottery verifies winners before paying, and large withdrawals can trigger source-of-funds questions. These checks are legal obligations, not obstacles invented by the operator.

GCGRA Rules in Practice

The clearest way to see what a GCGRA licence demands is to look at the two licensed products UAE residents can use online today. When Play971 launched in December 2025, Gulf News reported that its operator held the GCGRA’s 19th licence of any kind. Its rules, and The UAE Lottery’s, follow the same framework:

Several of these rules frustrate players used to offshore casinos — no passport registration, no depositing and withdrawing the same money, no access from abroad. They are the visible side of GCGRA licensing: the operator has to know who is playing, where they are and where the money comes from, and has to give them ways to stop.

What the GCGRA Means for Players

• Only licensed gambling is legal. The GCGRA states that any commercial gaming without its licence is illegal and that violators, “including persons who play unlicensed games”, will be subject to penalties.
• Licensed means protected. Licensed operators must verify players, keep games tested and offer limits and self-exclusion, and they answer to a UAE regulator.
• Unlicensed means unprotected. The GCGRA warns that playing with unregulated operators exposes consumers to legal action, fraud and financial loss “with no recourse through legal channels for recovery”.
• Foreign licences do not count. An online casino licensed in Curaçao, Malta or the Isle of Man is not authorised in the UAE.

Penalties for gambling outside the licensed system come from the federal Crimes and Penalties Law, not from the GCGRA itself; our UAE gambling laws guide sets them out.

Even on a licensed platform, gambling carries a real risk of losing money. Use the limits and self-exclusion tools licensees must offer, decide your budget in dirhams before you play, and if gambling is causing you or someone close to you difficulty, confidential help is available from BeGambleAware.

How to Check a GCGRA Licence

In October 2026 only two consumer brands could pass this test for gambling online: Play971 for casino games and sports betting, and The UAE Lottery for draws, scratch cards and Pick games. The airport draws of Big Ticket and Dubai Duty Free continue under GCGRA supervision.

The GCGRA Compared With Other Regulators

The GCGRA has modelled much of its approach on established regulators — US-style suitability investigations, GLI technical standards, and a board drawn from Nevada and New Jersey gaming. But a licence is territorial. However respected the foreign regulator, its licence does not authorise an operator to take bets from people in the UAE.

How to Report an Unlicensed Operator

The GCGRA runs a Complaints Form on gcgra.gov.ae, which it uses to receive reports of unlicensed operators or individuals conducting commercial gaming in the UAE, and complaints about licensed activity. In December 2024 it issued a consumer advisory warning residents against unlicensed lottery and gaming operators, including fake raffles and social media schemes. Before reporting, note the website address, the company name it shows and any payment details, and do not send further money.

Impersonation is the most common trap. Look-alike domains copy licensed brands to collect deposits and Emirates ID images: addresses such as 971play.ae, play971app.com and play971game.com are not Play971, which runs only at play971.ae and has no downloadable app. Fake “UAE Lottery agents” on WhatsApp and Instagram sell tickets that do not exist. If a site or account asks you to pay into a private person’s bank account or by gift card, stop — no GCGRA licensee takes payment that way. Report the page to the GCGRA and, if you have lost money, to the police through the official channels of your emirate.

What the GCGRA Has Not Decided Yet

Three years in, much of the framework is still being filled in, and some common claims online run ahead of the facts:

• More online operators. Only one company holds internet gaming and sports wagering licences. The GCGRA has not announced a second online licence or a timetable for one.
• Casinos in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The only land-based licence is for Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, expected to open in September 2027. Reports of other casino projects have not been matched by licences on the register.
• Fees and gaming tax. No licence fees or tax rates on gaming revenue have been published.
• Affiliates and advertising of offshore brands. The advertising standards apply to licensees. The GCGRA has not published a separate licence category for marketing affiliates; promoting unlicensed gambling to UAE residents remains outside the licensed system.

We update this page when the register or the GCGRA’s announcements change.

GCGRA Timeline

In just over three years the GCGRA has licensed one lottery, one online operator and one casino resort, with the casino the last of the three still to open.

International cooperation

On 30 April 2025 the GCGRA signed a memorandum of understanding with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, one of the most experienced online gaming regulators in the United States, covering cybersecurity, consumer protection, responsible gaming technology and regulatory collaboration. Kevin Mullally, then chief executive, described commercial gaming as “a cornerstone of our vision for diversified economic growth”.

FAQ