United Arab Emirates

The UAE established the federal General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) in September 2023 to license and supervise commercial gaming nationwide. The framework began with the national UAE Lottery (first draw December 2024) and a land-based Wynn resort licensed in Ras Al Khaimah (now due September 2027). A pivotal shift came when the GCGRA issued its first online sports-wagering/iGaming licence to Play971, which went live in late November 2025 (21+, UAE-located users) and launched football betting in June 2026.

This is a tightly controlled regime — Play971 is the sole licensed real-money sportsbook, and all offshore/unlicensed betting remains illegal. Horse racing is no longer a no-stakes affair: marquee events like the Dubai World Cup have long run free-to-enter prediction and raffle competitions, but real-money horse-race betting launched in June 2026 through Abu Dhabi-based Play971, the UAE's first licensed sports-wagering and iGaming platform.

Prediction markets remain unregulated grey-market with no specific ban as of mid-2026. The licensed-sportsbook minimum age is 21.

Gambling outside the licensed framework is a bad idea in the United Arab Emirates. The U.A.E. long prohibited all forms of gambling, but since 2023 a federal regulator, the GCGRA, has licensed commercial gaming — a national lottery, online casino games and, since 2026, sports betting. It remains illegal to run an unlicensed gambling business or to gamble with an unlicensed operator, and the rules still bar Emirati nationals from gambling. This means casino games and sports betting are only lawful through a GCGRA-licensed site such as Play971.

UAE Betting Sites

Only a GCGRA-licensed operator may lawfully take a bet in the UAE: Momentum currently operates Play971, the sole iGaming and sports betting platform licensed by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), and the regulator has warned that consumers that gamble with unlicensed operators face significant risks.

The UAE's licensed operator uses locally licensed payment providers, so dirham deposits work there; offshore sites generally do not accept the dirham by default, although you may still be able to deposit.

How real is the risk?

This is a hard question to answer definitively because the United Arab Emirates do not publish statistics on gambling-related arrests. The government actively censors the internet and supposedly blocks access to known gaming sites.

On the other hand, we do know that the UAE has a cyber-crime unit that monitors the internet for violations of certain laws. Numerous people have been arrested by Emirati authorities for activities that take place online. The only news releases I can find relate to political activity (such as Tweeting about politics).

So in summary, we know the authorities have the capability and the will to monitor the internet and take action against political dissidents. We also know the authorities routinely crack down on illegal gambling dens in the real world. Since 2023 the federal GCGRA has licensed and supervised online gambling in the UAE.

Gambling Laws in the UAE

Unlicensed gambling is clearly outlawed in the United Arab Emirates. This goes for locals as well as tourists in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and everywhere else across the country. The UAE penal code defines gambling as:

“Gambling is a game in which each party agrees that if he loses, he will pay the party who wins the game an amount of money or anything else agreed upon."

That definition still leaves no wiggle room for betting outside the licensed framework. If there is money or anything else of value on the line, it’s classified as gambling. The punishment for being caught is as follows:

“Whoever gambles shall be punished by detention for a maximum period of two years or by a fine not exceeding twenty thousand Dirhams. A penalty of detention or a fine shall be inflicted if the crime occurs in a public place, a place open to the public, or in a place or house prepared for gambling."