United Arab Emirates gambling licence by tender

The GCGRA is a federal authority headquartered in Abu Dhabi. It says it is the sole competent authority to issue commercial gaming licences in the UAE, with exclusive jurisdiction to regulate, license and supervise commercial gaming.

• No one may operate commercial gaming without the licences, approvals and permits required “from the GCGRA and Local Entities”. One Local Entity is named: in Ras Al Khaimah, the Tourism Development Authority’s Department of Entertainment and Gaming Regulation regulates integrated resorts (formed 25 January 2022). The instruments setting the local permits are not published.
• The GCGRA is also the supervisor for financial crime prevention in commercial gaming, and runs the national Voluntary Self-Exclusion list.
• The register (“Our Licensees”) prints names only: no licence numbers, dates, status or domains.

Laws that apply

• Federal Law by Decree No. (30) of 2022 on Regulating Commercial Gaming (the name the GCGRA gives it; text, issue date and entry into force not published) and the GCGRA Executive Regulations (not published)
• GCGRA Licensing Guide (01 May 2024), Advertising Standards for Commercial Gaming (Version 1.0, 27 February 2024), Responsible Gaming Framework (May 2024), technical standards (GLI series)
• Federal Decree-Law 31/2021, Crimes and Penalties Law (Penal Code), arts. 460-463 · Federal Decree-Law 34/2021 on cybercrimes, art. 38
• Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, Civil Transactions Law (in force 1 June 2026), art. 946: gambling and wagering agreements void
• Federal Decree-Law 10/2025 (AML, in force 14 October 2025) and Cabinet Resolution 134/2025, its Executive Regulations (in force 14 December 2025)
• Federal Decree-Law 47/2022 (corporate tax) · Federal Decree-Law 8/2017 (VAT) · Federal Decree-Law 26/2025 (Child Digital Safety, in force 1 January 2026)

The GCGRA names its founding law as Federal Law by Decree No. (30) of 2022. Neither it nor the Executive Regulations is published: the Cabinet legislation portal returns no result for that number, and no GCGRA page links either text.

• No official text says how licensed gaming and the Penal Code articles fit together. Take advice on both before relying on a licence.
• The new Civil Transactions Law keeps gambling agreements void (art. 946(4)) but did not carry forward the 1985 law’s other gambling rules (arts. 1012-1021), such as the loser’s right to recover what he paid within six months: voidness kept, recovery rules dropped.
• The GCGRA’s published rules are the Licensing Guide, the Advertising Standards, the Responsible Gaming Framework and the GLI technical standards it lists; the Policy Paper (2025) is a policy paper, not a rule.

The GCGRA issues five licence categories: gaming operators, gaming-related vendors, corporate key persons, individual key persons and gaming employees.

• No licence term in years is published: the Licensing Guide says only that the term depends on the type of licence. Licences are renewable on expiry unless there is substantial evidence of gross non-compliance.
• Whether one licence covers several brands or domains is not published; the register prints the online licensee by company name only.
• Live casino and virtual games are not named, and the GCGRA does not say whether esports wagering falls under sports wagering or internet gaming.

An applicant must show “by clear and convincing evidence” that it is eligible, qualified and suitable. An operator applicant must also have a relationship with a Qualifying Domestic Entity (QDE), a UAE company with substantial business operations.

• The Licensing Guide does not say the applicant itself must be a UAE company: after in-principle approval it may incorporate an entity and, if required, establish a presence in the UAE. The licensees on the register are UAE LLCs and an FZ-LLC.
• No nationality or seat test is published, and no minimum share capital.
• Key Persons are licensed in their own right; a materially changed fact must be notified to the GCGRA.

The route runs in nine steps from the intake form to a Certificate of Operation. The GCGRA engages only with applicants directly, and no duration is published for any step.

• All these fees are non-refundable. No guarantee, capital or responsible-gambling levy is published.
• In-principle approval lets the applicant incorporate an entity, obtain permits and visas, and open bank accounts.
• No appeal route against a refusal is published.

No gambling tax, duty or levy appears in any published instrument as of 22 October 2026. The unpublished decree, Executive Regulations and fee schedule could set one; ask the GCGRA and the Federal Tax Authority.

• Gambling is neither zero-rated nor exempt for VAT, and the FTA has published nothing on how a gaming operator’s takings are valued.
• The corporate tax return and payment are due within nine months of the end of the tax period.
• No tax on players’ winnings appears in the federal tax instruments.

The GCGRA lists the GLI standards as its technical standards, among them GLI-19 for interactive gaming systems and GLI-33 for event wagering systems, and names four approved laboratories.

• Approved laboratories: Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), BMM North America Inc., BMM Spain Testlabs and eCogra Limited.
• All systems must be tested and certified by independent laboratories, and the GCGRA’s Technical Compliance team reviews gaming systems, platforms and products; whether certification must come before the application is not published.
• GLI-19 requires a location check before play and blocking outside the permitted area, with detection of VPNs and proxies.
• No published rule requires servers or data to be in the UAE; personal data may leave the UAE only on the terms of the data protection law (Decree-Law 45/2021). Companies in the two financial free zones follow their own regimes: the DIFC Data Protection Law (DIFC Law No. 5 of 2020) and the ADGM Data Protection Regulations 2021.

Each operator’s Responsible Gaming Program must be approved by the GCGRA before gaming starts and audited at least every two years by a GCGRA-approved auditor.

• Operators must apply the GCGRA’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion list: no account for a listed person, winnings denied, no marketing.
• A deposit limit must be offered on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, and a cooling-off break of at least 72 hours.
• Digital platforms may not let under-18s access online commercial gaming (Decree-Law 26/2025, art. 9).

Commercial gaming operators are designated non-financial businesses when they conduct a single transaction, or linked transactions, of AED 11,000 or more (Cabinet Resolution 134/2025, art. 3(1)). The GCGRA supervises.

• Duties include a risk assessment, customer due diligence, politically exposed person checks, a compliance officer, sanctions screening and five-year records.
• Suspicious transactions go to the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit through goAML, “immediately and without delay”.
• The money laundering reporting officer must regularly reside in the UAE.
• AML breaches can be fined AED 10,000 to AED 5,000,000 per violation, and a licence revoked (Decree-Law 10/2025, art. 17).

Only GCGRA licensees may advertise, under the Advertising Standards, which complement Chapter 17 of the unpublished Executive Regulation. The advertising and marketing plan goes to the GCGRA with the licence application.

• TV, radio, online, social media and sponsorship are permitted with audience and content limits; every advertisement must refer to the ban on underage play.
• Operators should not use Arabic in any advertising until the GCGRA directs otherwise (s. 13.1), nor Emirati or Islamic culture, the UAE flag or national emblems (s. 14.1).
• The operator answers for its affiliates and agencies, and must send the GCGRA a policy on them each year for approval (s. 7.3).

The GCGRA may deny, revoke, suspend, condition or restrict a licence and impose a monetary fine. Its own fine amounts are not published, and no fine against a licensee had been published as of 22 October 2026.

• The GCGRA reports about 6,000 illegal websites blocked and 11 high-volume offshore operators served with cease-and-desist letters as of December 2024.
• How offshore operators sell it: read from a UAE proxy exit on 22 October 2026 (not shown to be an Etisalat or du line, so not a test of the TDRA filter), Stake (Curaçao licence, by its own terms) and BC.Game (Anjouan licence it prints; crypto) showed Arabic casino and sports lobbies, BC.Game while saying it does not accept UAE players, and 1xBet showed its own access-denied page. No police or Public Prosecution statement on offshore sites or their players was found.
• On 9 December 2024 it warned that advertisers, payment processors and other service providers supporting unlicensed operators risk sanctions.
• Vendors that supply unlicensed operators risk legal action and the loss of their licences.

The route to a GCGRA licence, in the order the Licensing Guide sets. Ask for the fee schedule and the unpublished rules at the first contact.

1. 01

   Contact the licensing team and send the intake form

   [email protected]

   Notify the GCGRA of your intention to apply and complete the Intake Form: the licence sought, the emirate, business details, an organisation chart showing the ultimate beneficial owners, licences held elsewhere and the certificate of incorporation.

2. 02

   Pass screening and pay the application fee

   fee from an unpublished schedule

   After initial screening the GCGRA invites you to its licensing portal; the non-refundable application fee is paid first.

3. 03

   Upload the full application

   QDE relationship for operators

   Corporate documents, financial accounts, the Qualifying Domestic Entity details, Key Persons, third parties, legal history, an overview of the responsible gaming plan and the advertising and marketing plan.

4. 04

   In-principle approval

   10% of the overall licence fee

   After its investigation the GCGRA grants in-principle approval once the fee is paid; you may then incorporate, obtain permits and visas and open bank accounts.

5. 05

   Licence and Certificate of Operation

   the remainder of the licence fee

   On full review the GCGRA confirms suitability, the licence fee is paid and the licence granted, with or without conditions. Systems are certified by an approved laboratory, the Responsible Gaming Program is approved, and operations start only after the Certificate of Operation.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 22 Oct 2026.