Sports gaming is one of the oldest methods through which fans engage with a match, a team or their favourite players. But it was only last year that authorised sports gaming was allowed in the UAE, allowing sports enthusiasts to partake in its vagaries.
The UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) gave the green light for Play971 to operate; it is the first and only licensed online gaming platform in the country.
The launch came ahead of the hugely successful 2026 Fifa World Cup where interest from the region was very high owing to a record eight teams from the Arab world qualifying for the 48-side mega tournament in North America.
Despite the time zone challenge, the 2026 World Cup became one of the most-watched tournaments in history – both on screens and at the stadiums. Its popularity was reflected in fan activity on the Play971 platform.
For Philippa Bowland, commercial director for iGaming at Play971, the Fifa World Cup gave sports gaming in the UAE a big push.
“The response has validated everything we set out to do. We launched with a clear conviction that there is a genuine, under served appetite for a licensed, locally rooted gaming platform in the UAE, and football's biggest stage gave us the first major proof point of that,” Bowland told The National.
“We saw strong and sustained growth in both registrations and active players throughout the tournament, culminating in an extraordinary level of engagement during the final itself. Fans were deeply invested right up to the final whistle, with nearly half [49%] of all predictions during the final placed live as the action unfolded.”
Morocco garnered the most interest as they replicated their successful run at the 2022 finals by battling their way to the quarter-finals, where they fell to France.
“Morocco stood out as one of the most universally backed teams on the platform, cutting across nationalities in a way that few teams managed. They were our biggest underdog story, attracting the largest increase in player engagement and experiencing the greatest odds improvement from start to finish,” Bowland explained.
"Kylian Mbappe emerged as the most-backed goalscorer overall. But some of the most compelling activity emerged around specific fixtures. The draws featuring teams like Portugal, Brazil, England, Spain and Belgium generated the strongest fan engagement on the platform.
"The most engaging moments tend to be the ones where multiple communities engage in the game simultaneously, which is why fixtures like France v Spain attracted our greatest volume of individual predictions."
The end of the World Cup has not slowed things down in online gaming. The Premier League, La Liga and Uefa Champions League are perennial favourites, with cricket also attracting interest in the region.
November will see two major UAE-based franchise cricket tournaments - the DP World International League T20 and Abu Dhabi T10 - that will take place back-to-back. And the international cricket calendar is already in full swing.
Fans in the UAE can now watch their favourite players and wager on the results. Former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee was appointed brand ambassador of Play971, adding to the profile of sports gaming in the UAE.
“Cricket is also a natural focus. With a large and highly engaged South Asian population, many of whom come from countries that have produced some of cricket's biggest stars. The UAE is one of the world's most passionate cricket markets. Brett Lee's appointment as our first brand ambassador reflects that commitment directly. The International League T20 [ILT20], international series, and the broader cricket calendar give us a rich pipeline of content and engagement opportunities throughout the year,” Bowland said.
While there is ample room for growth, Bowland said the priority is to consolidate in the UAE and create a dependable and regulated sports gaming platform.
“Our focus is firmly on the UAE, and there is good reason for that. Regulated commercial gaming is new here: the GCGRA was established in 2023, and Play971 is the first and only licensed platform operating under that framework. Getting this right, building a platform that genuinely serves this community and earns their long-term trust, is the priority.
“In practice, that means age and identity verification before any player can access the platform, player controls embedded throughout the experience, including deposit limits and timeouts, and independently certified technology partners to ensure fairness, security and transparency across the platform.
“The UAE is a new market for regulated commercial gaming, and the way this industry earns long-term trust is by demonstrating from the outset that player protection is central to the experience, not an afterthought.”
The Play971 website lists a set of rules and regulations that users must meet before they can participate. Users must be at least 21 years of age, be physically in the UAE, and not be in a sensitive geographic area, as determined by the GCGRA.
