The GCGRA has yet to issue operating licenses to online gambling operators but the consensus is that this will change.
An expert panel has indicated “broad confidence” in the eventual establishment of a regulated online gambling in the UAE once the country’s emerging commercial gaming market matures.
The GCGRA has issued 16 commercial gaming licenses to date but has yet to authorise operators of online casinos or betting sites to run UAE-licensed operations.
The panel, including Kate McCormick, CEO of WH Partners UAE and Oliver De Bono, CEO of Quantum Gaming, was speaking on Day 1 of the SiGMA Euro-Med conference in Malta.
Entrants to the UAE market should expect “a premium, tightly regulated, credible” environment administered by the GCGRA according to McCormick, who added that marketing must adopt “commercial gaming” terminology and avoid targeting locals.
With a federal regulatory framework now in place and licenses already issued to various projects and suppliers, including Wynn Al Marjan Island resort, “the UAE is leading what the rest of the GCC states do,” said De Bono.
