Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 deleted Articles 1012-1019 of the UAE Civil Transactions Law, the chapter establishing gambling and betting contracts as void, effective 1 June 2026. This removes the civil-law basis for treating gaming contracts as automatically void and consolidates commercial gaming exclusively into the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority's licensing regime. GCGRA, established by federal decree, holds exclusive federal jurisdiction to license commercial gaming across all seven Emirates. Criminal prohibitions under the Penal Code against unlicensed gambling remain fully in force alongside this civil clarification. The market itself remains nascent: only two B2C operator licences are live, one still pre-launch, and Dubai has no licensed operator. The jurisdiction sits within a civil-law family, where the licensing stack (enabling decree plus implementing regulator rules) forms the operative legal basis for lawful gaming activity.
United Arab Emirates · Question 01 of 11
Overview: What kind of market is this?
Unfavourable · Probable · Not reviewed · 1 post-review update · Not reviewed · Back to full United Arab Emirates report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | United Arab Emirates (AE) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Unfavourable |
| Confidence | Probable |
| Review status | Not reviewed · 1 post-review update · Not reviewed |
| Last collected | 23 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 deleted Articles 1012-1019 of the UAE Civil Transactions Law, the chapter establishing gambling and betting contracts as void, effective 1 June 2026. This removes the civil-law basis for treating gaming contracts as automatically void and consolidates commercial gam…
Key headwinds & conditions
- Penal Code Articles 414-416 unrepealed — criminal risk for unlicensed activity
- No open-competitive licensing; deliberately limited operator pool (reportedly one online licence per emirate)
- No published tax, fee or full B2C operational framework
- Emirati citizens reportedly excluded; players also criminally exposed if unlicensed channels used
The UAE's federal gambling regime, established by GCGRA in 2023, continues to mature: internet gaming and sports wagering has been live since Play971's December 2025 launch, and a land-based commercial gaming facility at Wynn Al Marjan Island is targeted for 2027. The most significant development this cycle is the removal of the gambling chapter from the Civil Transactions Law effective 1 June 2026 under Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, which enables civil enforceability of licensed gaming contracts for the first time. GCGRA retains exclusive federal jurisdiction over licensing and supervision, and this cycle also saw a new supervisory MoU with ADGM's FSRA and a Google Ads policy change permitting licensed-operator advertising, both signalling a maturing but still-developing regulatory environment.