A historic milestone has been reached in the Middle East’s gaming sector with the launch of Play 971, which claims to be the first fully licensed and regulated iGaming site in the United Arab Emirates.
The platform went live earlier this week, marking a significant step in the region’s controlled expansion into commercial gaming. According to its website, Play 971 holds a license from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), the federal body tasked with overseeing the UAE’s nascent gaming industry.
Currently, the rollout appears to be in a soft launch phase. While the site is accessible to users in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al-Khaimah, access remains restricted in Dubai.
Furthermore, the GCGRA has not yet updated its official public register to list Play 971 alongside its known lottery licensees, suggesting that this may be a trial period before a wider public announcement. Industry sources indicate that a full-scale official launch is tentatively scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.
Play 971 is operated by Coin Technology Projects LLC, an entity that shares a registered address with The Game LLC—the operator behind the official UAE Lottery. This connection suggests a coordinated strategy by Momentum, the parent company that secured the lottery license last July, to dominate the early stages of the UAE’s regulated market.
The platform offers a suite of digital gaming options, including slots and live casino tables. Interestingly, the site features content from suppliers such as OneTouch and Evolution, neither of whom currently appear on the GCGRA’s list of approved vendors. This discrepancy implies that vendor licensing may be proceeding behind closed doors as the regulator fine-tunes the market’s infrastructure.
This launch represents the UAE’s first tangible move into online sports betting and casino gaming, expanding beyond the lottery product that has been the sole legal form of gambling to date. With a population comprising roughly 88% expatriates, the addressable market for regulated operators is substantial, even with strict prohibitions remaining in place for Emirati nationals.
