According to recent media reports the US-American Gambling group Wynn Resorts plans to open a luxury resort in Dubai. This will also include an extensive casino area. This would make the Wynn Resorts the first casino in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But how does a casino fit in a country in which all gambling is strictly forbidden?

For several years Wynn Resorts has been operating very successful luxury resorts with impressive casinos in the gambling metropoles. As it has now been announced, there are already plans to build a similar luxury resort with an integrated casino area in the United Arab Emirates. In May of last year in an article we asked the question, whether gambling will soon be legalised in Dubai.

Islam completely forbids gambling of any kind

In general gambling is forbidden in Islam. For this reason, till recently, it was inconceivable that a casino could be opened in a country as Dubai where Islam prevails. Now there seem to be concrete plans to build a luxury resort with an attached casino in Dubai. This would make Wynn Resorts the first casino in Dubai. According to recent information the resort is however not expected be ready before 2026.

It has been discussed for some time in Dubai, especially in view of the many tourists from all over the world, to what extent the strict gambling bans can be relaxed. However any future changes and relaxation must obviously be compatible with the social and cultural circumstances in the UAE. Therefore it is not expected that gambling will be completely legalised in the United Arab Emirates. It is more assumed that at most selected forms of gambling will be tolerated for tourists and in particular locations.

Dubai is situated in the Persian Gulf and is one of the seven Emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). More than 3,4 million inhabitants live on an area of 3,885 square kilometre. According to Statista in 2019 there were 16,2 million international overnight guests in Dubai. To compare: In 2020 the number was 6,41 million. Dubai is especially world famous for its impressive building projects as well as for the artificial islands and amusement parks.

First Casino in Dubai shall be on an artificial island

Even now it is already clear that the luxury resort of Wynn shall be built on the artificially built island Al Marjan. To be more precise the location in sight is the Emirate Ra’s al-Chaima. According to unconfirmed sources the building costs for the Wynn Resort will amount to around two billion US-Dollar. The CEO of Wynn Resorts, Craig Billings, is more than happy with the planned location and he is sure that they can here offer the guests a unique experience. In April of last year we reported about a “Casino-Tip fight“ at Wynn, which could be finally settled after 15 years.

Wynn Las Vegas is a world famous luxury resort with its own casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. The complex which was opened in 2005 has more than 2,700 hotel rooms and a casino area which is over 10,000 square metre. Besides this, since 2006 there has been the Wynn Macau in the People’s Republic of China. The location has more than 600 hotel rooms, 375 slot machines as well as 200 card tables.

Conclusion

It is currently not been established when the Wynn Resorts in Dubai will open. It is also not clear if there will actually be a casino area attached to the luxury resort. It is also possible that because of the strict gambling ban. We are excited to see how the situation of gambling rules will develop in the United Arab Emirates in the coming years.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/dubai-wolkenkratzer-sky-architektur-1050418/

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