The UAE Lottery has launched ticket sales for its AED100 million Lucky Day draw set for 14 December, with tickets priced at AED50 (£10.80/€12.90/$13.60). Alongside these tickets, the lottery offers various scratchcards ranging from AED5 to AED50, providing prizes between AED50,000 and AED1 million.
Participation is restricted to individuals aged 18 and older, and tickets can only be purchased by customers present in the UAE. At this time, ticket sales are exclusively online.
In July, Abu Dhabi's The Game, a subsidiary of Momentum, obtained the UAE Lottery license from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA). It surpassed established competitors Emirates Draw and Mahzooz for the license, which now plan to shift their strategies.
Smartplay International, a specialist in lottery drawings that supports many of the world's largest lotteries, received a vendor license in October, indicating its role in facilitating the lottery's operations.
Bishop Woosley, the former director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, is the lottery director for Momentum. Woosley, who previously served as the lottery’s legal counsel and spent eight years leading it, also presided over the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. He joined Momentum in August after four years as a consultant.
In Woosley’s words, “Our mission at The UAE Lottery is to inspire people to dream big, aligning with our slogan, ‘Dare to Imagine.’ We aim to create exciting experiences while promoting responsible play. Following a rigorous GCGRA evaluation, our team remains committed to ensuring that all operations meet global standards, guaranteeing fairness and transparency from the draw process to the selection of winners.”
The UAE Lottery is one of the pioneers in the Emirates' gambling scene, alongside Wynn Resorts, which is constructing the Wynn Al-Marjan Island resort in Ras Al-Khaimah and earned the UAE’s first commercial gaming license last October.
Other competitors are keen to enter the market. MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle unveiled plans for a resort in Abu Dhabi in September. However, GCGRA chair Jim Murren, who previously worked with Hornbuckle, indicated that there won't be a surge of new developments in 2025, emphasizing, “[We’re] focused on the operators we have already licensed.” He suggested that additional licenses are more likely over the next five to ten years.
Regarding online gaming, the GCGRA’s operator license encompasses internet gaming, sports betting, and lottery retailers in addition to the national lottery and land-based gaming facilities, although plans regarding online gaming have yet to be revealed.
