UAE's national lottery to hold first draw in December with Dh100m jackpot

Tickets priced at Dh50 can now be purchased for the draw on December 14

The first UAE Lottery draw will be held on Saturday, December 14. AFP

The UAE's first authorised national lottery will hold its inaugural draw next month, with a Dh100 million jackpot up for grabs.

Tickets – which cost Dh50 – can be purchased on the UAE Lottery website. The first live draw will take place at 8.30pm on Saturday, December 14, and will be broadcast on the lottery operator's YouTube channel. Draws will be held every two weeks.

The Lucky Day lottery draw follows a calendar format, with players asked to select six numbers from a possible 31 from a "Day" section of the online draw card and one number from 12 in the "Month" section. Players must register on the official lottery website to participate.

Lottery players who pick all seven numbers are in line for the top prize, with those who pick all six "Day" numbers scooping Dh1 million. Cash prizes range from Dh100 to Dh100 million.

Several scratch cards, offering winnings varying from Dh1 million to Dh50,000, have also been created by the Game LLC, which was selected to be the UAE's first operator of a licensed lottery in July.

They were selected by the UAE's General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority which said it marked a milestone in establishing a well-regulated commercial gaming sector in the country and described the move as a “pivotal” step for the Emirates at the time.

The GCGRA was established last September. It is led by gaming industry veterans and is the federal entity overseeing commercial gaming activities in the country.

The announcement of the live draw comes after a major shake-up of gaming activities. Some operators of UAE's prize draws were required in January to pause business.

One of the operators at the time said the pause was the result of an “industry-wide mandate” that was consistent with the regulators’ new role to create a well-regulated gaming environment in the country.

Before this, prize draws had drawn increasing numbers of participants hoping for significant windfalls. Since its formation in September, the GCGRA has sought to develop a regulatory framework to protect consumers and stakeholders.

It was underlined that engaging in, conducting, or enabling commercial gaming activities within the UAE without approval from the GCGRA is illegal and anyone flouting the rules could face severe penalties.

Playing as a consumer through unlicensed operators is also illegal, according to the GCGRA.

According to the GCGRA's website, it is the only entity that can regulate, license and supervise commercial gaming activities and centres within the UAE, which include lottery, internet gaming, sports wagering and land-based integrated gaming facilities or resorts.

“Commercial gaming” refers to “any game of chance, or combination of chance and skill, where an amount of money, in cash or cash equivalents, is wagered – placed as a bet – for the purpose of winning a sum of money or other valuable items”.

National gaming strategy

A multibillion-dollar mega resort in Ras Al Khaimah planned by a major US hotel operator recently secured a gaming licence from UAE authorities.

Wynn Resorts, which runs high-end hotel complexes in Las Vegas, Boston and the Chinese territory of Macau, said the UAE represented its most "exciting market for integrated resort development in decades" in an investors report shared last month said.

The $3.8 billion Wynn Al Marjan Island resort in Ras Al Khaimah will seek to "capture untapped domestic gaming demand" from the UAE's large expatriate community as well as draw in "high-end gaming clientele from abroad", the report states.

Wynn said construction on the five-star facility - which is scheduled to open in 2027 - was advancing rapidly. It said it expected the resort to deliver "meaningful long-term economic benefits to Ras Al Khaimah". The hotel developer and operator said the gaming licence issued by the GCGRA related to its property in Ras Al Khaimah.