GCGRA chair: Regulator will take its time with UAE resort licensing

The General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) is “focused on the operators we have already licensed”, chairman Jim Murren said in response to speculation about further integrated resorts licences in the UAE.

Murren was speaking at the Skift Global Forum East in Dubai today (20 November), in his capacity as chief executive of Ritz Carlton Yachts. However he was quizzed about gaming in the UAE, due to his position as chair of the GCGRA.

Murren stressed the regulator was moving “very deliberately” when it comes to expanding the market. Currently the GCGRA has licensed The Game to operate the UAE Lottery and issued a land-based gaming facility licence to Wynn Resorts, which is constructing the region’s first integrated resort in Ras Al-Khaimah.

And today the regulator issued a third supplier licence, to local payments provider PayBy.

Is MGM next? Not so fast…

Others are eager to follow Wynn into the IR market. At another Skift event in September, MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle spoke of his hopes for progress on further licences. MGM, Hornbuckle said, is looking to construct a resort in Abu Dhabi and had applied for a licence there. 

But when Skift senior hospitality editor Sean O’Neill asked Murren whether the rollout of licences would accelerate in 2025, he insisted the process would not be rushed. 

Jim Murren said the GCGRA was focused on building a “state of the art” regulatory regime

“Bill used to work for me, so I’ll have to talk to Bill about that,” he said in response to Hornbuckle’s comments, to laughs from the audience.

“The process has been moving very deliberately here,” Murren continued. “The government has been very clear they want to have a state of the art, highly compliant, very rigorous regulatory regime to make sure this is going to be world class from a regulatory perspective. Nothing we are doing is going to rush that at all. 

“That is incredibly important to the government and I take that responsibility very seriously.

“So I think you will see other licences over time, but we’re focused on the operators we have already licensed and the fact there will be a national lottery here, which we announced earlier this year as well.”

Five to ten years for more UAE integrated resorts?

Wynn Al-Marjan Island isn’t due to open its doors to guests until Q1 2027. Other licences will follow over the “next five to ten years”, Murren said, so that property “certainly has the head start”. 

“We’re very excited for Ras Al-Khaimah and the vision the leadership of that Emirate has shown in terms of hospitality in developing with Wynn Resorts this unbelievable resort,” he said. “That is going to have a tremendous economic effect on that Emirate and the region in general. 

“I’m a big fan of Wynn Resorts. I competed against them for 25 years and I know they are a quality operator.”

UAE eyes Vegas’ sports and entertainment crown?

Is the UAE eyeing Las Vegas’ crown as the sports and entertainment capital of the world? Jim Murren certainly thinks so. 

When he joined MGM, the city was “a sports desert”, he said. “Professional sports leagues were avoiding Las Vegas like the plague. Now we can’t get rid of them.”

During his MGM tenure Murren was heavily involved in the construction of Las Vegas’ first sports stadium, the T-Mobile Arena, playing a role in bringing the NHL’s Golden Knights to Sin City, as well as WNBA team the Las Vegas Aces and the NFL’s Raiders. 

The Oakland A’s are in the process of relocating – to a stadium on the Strip, no less – and Murren believes an NBA team will follow “in the next three to four years”.

The UAE, he said, could soon be a challenger.

“There’s such great vision in this country in terms of infrastructure, building the right road systems, the right airports, the right facilities for both sports and entertainment,” he said. “Of course the private sector is doing its part too, in terms of building integrated resorts which will have a big catalytic event in jumpstarting parts of this economy here in the UAE.”

“I see the sports and entertainment growth in the UAE and the Middle East as I did in Las Vegas 30 years ago,” Jim Murren added.

GCGRA licenses first payments provider 

While The Game – as UAE Lottery operator – and Wynn Resorts have secured operating licences, the GCGRA has issued a third supplier licence today and its first payment provider. 

PayBy, a business established in 2005 and acquired by Dubai-based Astra Tech in 2022, is now listed as holding a gaming-related vendor licence for the market. 

Astra completed a $500m funding round in 2022, led by UAE-based AI pioneer G42. Last week local publication Enterprise News reported that G42 has acquired Astra Tech founder Abdallah Abu Sheikh’s stake in the business.

PayBy becomes the third supplier licensed by the GCGRA. Lottery draw specialist SmartPlay International and Aristocrat secured gaming vendor licences in late October.

SmartPlay, which powers major lottery operators including draws such as PowerBall and Megamillions in the US, the UK National Lottery and the Hong Kong Jockey Club, appears to be powering the UAE Lottery. 

In a press release issued on 25 October, it said The Game would “offer a diverse range of lottery games designed to suit different player interests and financial preferences”.