Legalized gambling in the United Arab Emirates will “happen soon,” according to a Reuters report that cited unnamed sources close to the UAE process.
The UAE legalization process is going more quickly than anticipated, with Wynn Resorts already having announced it will be participating in a proposed $2 billion integrated resort with a casino on Al Marjan Island.
As the UAE formed a new commission to oversee the new integrated resorts, Reuters reported new progress on the timeline. The news service quoted two sources close to the matter that “gambling in some form would be permitted in the UAE, but that it would be up to each emirate to decide whether and how to regulate it, similar to how Sharjah prohibits alcohol sales unlike other emirates.”
Meanwhile, Caesars regional president Anthony Costa has confirmed that the company would examine any opportunity to offer gambling in Dubai, where the operator currently has a project under way to build a non-gaming resort.
“That acceptance now that there is going to be the potential of gaming in the UAE, in whatever form it’s going to be, allows people like Caesars and MGM as well to look at that closely,” Costa told Reuters. “Like anybody, if a license is able to be bid for, any global gaming company is going to want to be actively involved in the conversation.”
