The executive director of Wynn ResortsCraig Billings, surprised investors a year ago when he said the United Arab Emirates was “the most exciting new market to open in decades.” Outside of Egypt and Lebanon, casinos are practically non-existent in the Middle Eastsince Muslim-majority countries often prohibit gambling. Even more intriguing: At the time Billings was excited about the future of gambling in the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom didn’t exactly have any casinos. He didn’t even have a game authority.
But by then Wynn had already rolled the dice on the United Arab Emirates. In 2022, the company announced an ambitious new project: a $3.9 billion luxury “integrated resort” located on an artificial barrier islet in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, also known as RAK. The plans called for a gleaming hotel tower with 1,500 high-end rooms and suitesas well as private villas in the marina adjacent to the complex. It would feature 24 restaurants and lounges, a spa, a beach club, a 3.6-hectare pool area, a luxury shopping promenade, multiple entertainment venues and state-of-the-art nighttime light and laser shows. From the beginning, designs included a gaming room, although at the time Wynn did not yet have a casino license.
Foto: Wynn Resorts
Billings’ gamble paid off last month, when the United Arab Emirates Commercial Gaming General Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) awarded Wynn the first commercial gaming operator license in the Emirates. It should be noted that the casino is just the beginning of gambling in the United Arab Emirates. The fledgling gaming authority also recently greenlit its first national lottery and is also preparing to launch a regulated iGaming market, which encompasses sports betting and any bet on a future outcome.
Wynn’s initial bet on the United Arab Emirates now looks like a winner. But it was actually a big risk, considering that the GCGRA was only formed after Wynn had already committed to building. “Wynn has been telling us all along that they were very confident they were going to get this license, but then it took them a while,” says Chad Beynon, senior analyst covering gaming, lodging and theaters for Macquarie Capital. “Meanwhile, they were building this property. “If they had never obtained that license, that would have been enormously detrimental to shareholders.”
The Wynn Al Marjan, which is scheduled to open in 2027, is a joint venture between Wynn and RAK Hospitality Holding, chaired by the emirate’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, 37 years old. Wynn Resorts owns 40% of the Al Marjan project. According to SEC filings, the company invested $455 million during the first nine months of 2024, bringing its year-to-date spending to $533 million. Wynn’s remaining 40% pro rata portion of the required capital is between 800 and 875 million dollarsthe company’s chief financial officer, Julie Cameron-Doe, told investors on Monday’s third-quarter results conference call. That would bring Wynn’s total projected investment in the project to about 1.4 billion dollars.
Foto: Wynn Resorts
Significantly, Wynn has not partnered with one of the UAE’s two economic powerhouses, Abu Dhabi or Dubai, but with the much lesser-known Ras Al Khaimah. The northernmost of the seven emirates, RAK, has a GDP of $11.5 billion, just 2% of the value of all goods and services produced in the UAE. Slightly larger than South Carolina, RAK is bordered to the north and east by Oman, and to the south by the emirate of Umm Al Quwain. Its name roughly translates to “the head of the tent,” where archaeologists have found signs of civilization dating back 7,000 years. Currently, the main economic engine of the emirate is RAK Ceramics, a company that produces 123 million square meters of tiles and 5 million units of what are euphemistically known as “sanitary ware” (sinks, bathtubs, toilets), which which translates into $545 million in revenue per year. That figure is expected to be eclipsed by Wynn Al Marjan once it launches.
“Based on what Wynn has told us,” says Beynon, “his emirate is very business-friendly.” He speculates that it is much easier for Wynn to work with RAK simply because there are fewer local stakeholders who could potentially challenge the project. To put it in perspective, Beynon mentions a closer example. “Miami has wanted to get a casino license for the last 20 years,” he says. “And Disney would object. Miami convention centers would object. Restaurants and hotels would object. I think that’s the risk in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “They are already established with tens of billions of dollars of investment from others.”
When the complex opens in three years, Wynn Al Marjan It will be a litmus test to determine whether casinos are successful in the United Arab Emirates. “The way I look at it is this,” Billings told investors on a third-quarter earnings conference call last week. “There really isn’t a proper integrated resort on that half of the planet, okay? So the closest will be in Asia: Singapore or Macao”. He then highlighted the huge population that is an eight-hour flight from the United Arab Emirates. “There are 86 million air bridges serving Dubai Airport, and we are about 55 minutes down one of three six-lane highways from Dubai Airport.”
Currently under construction, the 300-square-meter hotel will include more than 1,500 rooms and suites, many with views of the Arabian Gulf. (Photo: Wynn Resorts)
“And furthermore, you have 10 million people locally, nine million of whom are not Emiratis and therefore able to play,” Billings continued. In fact, expatriates make up approximately 88% of the UAE’s population, putting the kingdom second only to the Vatican in the ratio of expatriates to nationals. About 70% of the country’s foreign population comes from South Asia (especially India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) or Egypt.
“We are confident that the resort will be a must-visit tourist destination in the UAE and expect it to support strong long-term free cash flow growth,” Billings told investors last week, adding that construction of the hotel has already reached the 24th floor, making Wynn Al Marjan the tallest building in RAK. (When completed, the 300-meter hotel tower will be the 19th tallest in the United Arab Emirates, and about one-third the height of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower.)
Billings has said he believes the United Arab Emirates will be a gaming market of between 3,000 and 5,000 million dollarsand that Wynn should have a two- to three-year jump before other rival casino operators enter the region. Beynon considers this a conservative estimate. “At this point, they could have a five-year head start,” he says, noting that MGM Resorts CEO, Bill Hornbucklehas recently applied for a UAE casino license in Abu Dhabi.
“The way it will work is that the federal government, the Abu Dhabi government, will approve it,” Hornbuckle told a crowd at the Foro Global Shift in September. “We have applied for something there and we hope to win something there. Then, each ruler will have his opinion. It’s like a state, where each state says yes or no.”
Some have compared what is happening in the United Arab Emirates to the construction of a Las Vegas in the Middle Eastbut Beynon sees a better analogy in Japan, which is on track to welcome its first casino in 2030. Just as the United Arab Emirates is opening up to gambling, Japan is also ending its long-standing ban on gambling. game. And just like in the Emirates, if American casino operators want to enter the Japanese market, they must first partner with local partners. Osaka Integrated Resort, or Osaka IR, is a $233 million hotel-casino to be built on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay. The project is a joint venture between MGM Resorts y Orixa Japanese financial services group, in which each party owns a 40% stake. The remaining 20% is distributed among 22 other companies, including Panasonic Holdings and West Japan Railway.
Similar to how American casinos in the United Arab Emirates are forced to partner with the leader of their emirate, Japan’s regional rivalries also serve to limit competition. “Each [empresa de casino] that operates in a city or region essentially competes against all others within that city or region,” explains Beynon. “And then there are the local winners.” Indeed. According to forecasts, Osaka IR hopes to obtain 3.6 billion dollars in annual revenue, of which approximately 80% will come from casino operations.
