Gaming began to enter the local lexicon after the UAE’s regulatory authority was established in 2023. A licence for the country’s first authorised lottery was granted in 2024 and Wynn Resorts will open a casino in Ras Al Khaimah in 2027.
The licensed and regulated Play971 website, meanwhile, began operations last month, with users able to place bets on live sport for the first time, as well as play online casino games.
The website’s launch also means that those who follow horse racing in this country can now put wagers on the action, provided they meet certain requirements.
I have attended horse racing meetings in Abu Dhabi for many years and the first question most people ask me when I suggest going to the races is always “can you bet?”, such is the hardwired association in many western minds between a day at the races and having a wager at the course.
I’ve always answered no to that question until now, but I also usually tell those who haven’t been to a race meeting in the UAE before that it is a lovely way to spend a few hours watching sport at an event that spans from the late afternoon through to an evening under the lights. It also meant no one I invited left the grounds regretting their inability to pick a winner.
There has, however, traditionally been an official prediction slip available at the course. Sometimes referred to as a “pick-and-win form”, it required participants to guess the top three horses in each race and to hand in their completed slip before the racing begins. This competition is free to enter for those in attendance and the serial numbers of “winning” forms are displayed after each race.
I have never won anything, although by virtue of the prediction slip being free to enter for racegoers, I have never lost anything either.
Mostly I’ve regularly attended horse racing meetings to enjoy the atmosphere. Spectators can sit or stand close to the finishing post with sections of the city’s skyline providing an enchanting backdrop to the lush green surroundings of the Abu Dhabi track. I’ve ended up converting a number of people to the spectacle of a night at the races and the absence of betting was quickly forgotten by every one of them.
Now, because of recent amendments in the regulatory framework, we are in a new era, as I experienced first-hand at the last race meeting of 2025 in Abu Dhabi, which was the midway point in the season’s sixteen meeting calendar at the Turf Club.
The UAE’s licensed operator had a discreetly branded activation desk set up at the course for that meeting in an area restricted to those racegoers who were 21 years old and over, and where alcohol was also on sale. Entry into that part of the course was enforced by age-verified wristband only.
Western racegoers might be used to bookmakers or turf accountants plying their trade trackside in their home countries, with those merchants shouting the odds in the minutes before each race, but there was none of that here, save for an information board showing race information. The new era has started quietly, for sure, and that can only be a good thing.
Apart from the minimum age requirement, other guardrails were in place. The branding and signage for the online wagering system at the track were very subtle, essentially signalling quietly to interested racegoers that the service existed, without ever aggressively advertising its presence.
Crucially, you don’t place your wager with an on-course bookmaker, rather you place it on the gaming operator’s licensed website, where odds appear for the races.
To do so, you need a verified account, which requires you to be in the country and to provide your Emirates ID and other details. The sign-up entails a full digital identification check. As The National reported in December, the operator’s website promotes responsible gaming, with the possibility to set limits on deposits and time-outs on spending for its registered users.
The potential success of the venture will require those stringent controls and regulations to remain firmly in place. The casino-like games on the website’s home screen hold limited appeal to me, but they will do to others, so it is important that education and information about potentially compulsive or impulsive behaviour and warnings about the downsides of gaming are delivered with regularity.
For the record, I deposited some dirhams in the account I set up while I was at the race meeting. My deposit was a sum equal to how much I was willing to lose – because wasting or losing money holds even less appeal to me than those online casino games I mentioned earlier. As it turned out, I ended up a few dirhams ahead of where I started, but I doubt I will be as fortunate next time around.
