As a step forward for gambling within the Middle Eastern region, MGM Resorts International has also fully submitted its application for a gaming license in Abu Dhabi which may be a step forward towards the United Arab Emirates’ attempt at legalizing gambling. While the application was recently announced at the Skift Global Forum 2024 through Bill Hornbuckle, CEO and president of MGM Resorts International noted he was quite optimistic about the company’s future in the area. This move is expected at a time when the UAE is seeking to seek out new sources of revenues and upgrade its position of a world tourist hotspot by tentatively considering regulation of gambling services.
The application is still awaiting federal government approval and Hornbuckle is optimistic for the license. It comes after the formation of the UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) in September 2023 to set up a premier global standard for the regulation of commercial gaming. According to the aim and objectives of the GCGRA, its major duty is to encourage and promote social responsible and well-restrained gambling activities while all the involved parties strictly follow the set standard and regulation.
Its introduction could mean that Abu Dhabi is the second emirate that allowed the development of gaming resorts in the UAE since the partnership between Ras Al Khaimah and Wynn Resorts to launch an integrated gaming resort on Al Marjan Islands set for 2027. This change of policy is part of the UAE management’s long-term plan adopted intending to lure foreign investors to the country and to increase tourism, mainly hospitality and entertainment.
It is therefore not surprising that the recent popular push towards the liberalisation of gambling in the UAE has created a lot of buzz and excitement on the possibilities potion for gaming advancement in the region. Support for Parliament approved instigated gambling is increasing due to the perceived economic returns; influencing the support for tourism and employment creation. The GCGRA is at the moment in the process of developing and standard setting legal frameworks to enhance operation of licensed casinos throughout the emirates with much more concentration on the consumer protection and responsible gambling.
For this reason, by being the first Gulf nation to consider such reforms, the UAE is positioning itself rather uniquely in the global gaming market. Such huge players like MGM Resorts in the country have raised hope that regulated gambling will not only survive but will be of benefit to the UAE economy. This comes at the backdrop of the gambling industry experiencing phenomenal advancement around the globe, with changes in technology and the preference of consumers drastically changing the.
Nonetheless, the prospect of casino introduction in the UAE leads to thinking about the social and cultural implication, as well as about the regulation of gambling services in the country. But when authorities plan to introduce the culture of gaming into the local economy, they encounter a difficulty of satisfying emerging entertainment demand keeping the principles of traditional culture in mind. As seen, legal gambling will need close cooperation between sectors of law enforcement, finance, and tourism for its success.
The increased involvement in gambling is due to change in attitude where the society is now acceptable to take gambling as a leisure activity. Nonetheless, it is clear that awareness campaigns on the effects of gambling will be very necessary so that the advantages of legalized gaming do not have to be paid for by scrapping the public wellbeing. Also, there is the need for the necessary control systems to assess the impacts of gambling to communities, in relation to such aspects as gambling disorders and relatively equitable economic concerns.
As the UAE moves into this change, this account can also be a guide for other nations that consider similar trajectories, while situating the debate around gambling less in legal concerns but in the questions of economic gains and social consequences. The change in the gambling regulations in the UAE is symbolic for the overturned of the region and can have a profound impact on gambling in the worldwide.
