Does Caesars Palace Dubai Have a Casino? The Bluewaters Story

Last updated: 24 July 2026

No. Caesars Palace Dubai never had a casino — not when it opened on Bluewaters Island in 2018, and not at any point during its five years of operation. The fuller answer is stranger: the hotel itself no longer exists under that name. Caesars left Dubai in late 2023, and the property has been running as Banyan Tree Dubai ever since. Yet the question keeps being asked, because Caesars is one of the most famous casino brands on earth and much of the web has not caught up with the rebrand. Here is what actually happened, and where legal gaming in the UAE really is.

Key takeaways

• Caesars Palace Dubai never had a casino. It opened on 15 November 2018 as Caesars Entertainment's first non-gaming resort, and gaming was never added.
• Caesars never held a UAE gaming licence. The federal regulator, the GCGRA, was only announced in September 2023 — days before Caesars' exit was made public — and has never listed the company.
• The exit was announced on 13 September 2023; Caesars stopped operating the hotel that November, when it was rebranded Banyan Tree Dubai under Ennismore and Banyan Tree Group, both part of Accor, in a deal with Dubai Holding.
• The confusion persists because Caesars is a casino brand, and because outdated pages still describe the Bluewaters hotel by its old name.
• As of July 2026 there is no casino in Dubai. Legal gaming in the UAE means Play971 online, The UAE Lottery, and — from 2027 — Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah.

The short answer

There has never been a casino at Caesars Palace Dubai. The resort opened without one in 2018, operated for five years without one, and closed under the Caesars name in 2023 without one. Nothing on Bluewaters Island offers casino gaming today.

What actually opened on Bluewaters in 2018

The project was real, and it was genuinely Caesars — just not the kind of Caesars people picture. In a press release dated 31 October 2018, Caesars Entertainment announced opening dates for its resorts on Bluewaters, a man-made island off the Jumeirah Beach Residence coastline developed by Meraas. Cove Beach, the beach club, opened on 9 November 2018; Caesars Palace Bluewaters Dubai and its residences welcomed first guests on 15 November 2018; the second hotel, Caesars Resort Bluewaters Dubai, followed that December.

The company's own words settle the casino question. Then-chief executive Mark Frissora described the openings as "our first non-gaming resorts", part of an asset-light strategy of licensing Caesars brands to hotels in markets where casino gaming was not possible. Gambling was illegal throughout the UAE at the time, and Dubai's tourism authorities had said publicly they had no desire to introduce casinos. The Bluewaters hotels led with restaurants — Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen among them — a beach club and entertainment, not gaming. The grand-opening celebration in March 2019 was billed the same way.

Did Caesars ever hold — or seek — a UAE gaming licence?

It never held one. That much is certain: until September 2023 there was no UAE gaming regulator to issue such a licence, and since the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) was established, its public register has never listed Caesars Entertainment. The GCGRA is the sole licensing authority for commercial gaming in the UAE, at federal level — there are no emirate-level gaming regulators.

Whether Caesars ever applied is a narrower question, and the public record points to no. Skift, reporting the exit on 13 September 2023, described Caesars Palace Dubai as "having never secured a gaming license". ZAWYA noted the exit came only weeks after the UAE announced it was creating a gaming regulator — the implication being that Caesars walked away just as the door it was supposedly waiting for began to open. Veteran gaming reporter Howard Stutz added that Caesars made no regulatory disclosures about the departure, and that chief executive Tom Reeg had told investors on earnings calls the company was no longer interested in international casino operations beyond its hotel-casino in Windsor, Ontario. No application by Caesars has ever surfaced in any GCGRA announcement or register update.

The 2023 exit and the Banyan Tree rebrand

On 13 September 2023, Ennismore and Banyan Tree Group — both part of the Accor Group — announced a deal with Dubai Holding to bring Banyan Tree to Bluewaters. Accor chairman Sébastien Bazin signed the agreement with Dubai Holding group chief executive Amit Kaushal. The statement was explicit: Banyan Tree Dubai would replace Caesars Palace Dubai, opening in November 2023 after a phased programme of brand-related improvements, with 179 rooms including 30 suites, a new four-bedroom villa, five restaurants and bars, and 96 private residences. Under a long-standing partnership between Accor and Banyan Tree Group dating to 2016, the resort is co-managed by Banyan Tree Group and Ennismore.

Caesars ended its management of the property that November, and by mid-November 2023 the rebrand was complete. Which of the old resort's restaurants would carry over was unclear at the time — ZAWYA singled out Hell's Kitchen as an open question.

Why the confusion persists

Three reasons. First, the brand: Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is arguably the world's most recognisable casino hotel, so "Caesars Palace Dubai" reads as a casino whether or not one existed. Second, stale information: travel sites, aggregator pages and AI-generated summaries still list the Bluewaters property under its old name, some with casino claims attached. Third, timing: the exit was announced eight days after the UAE revealed the GCGRA in September 2023, so the story got folded into casino-legalisation coverage — leading some readers to assume Caesars had been involved in gaming all along. The opposite was true. MGM's Dubai project being billed as "a platform for a casino someday" keeps the "casino in Dubai" searches alive.

Where legal gaming actually is in the UAE

If you arrived here wanting to know where you can legally gamble in the UAE, the honest map as of July 2026 is short. Land-based: Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah is the only land-based casino licensee on the GCGRA register, and the resort opens in 2027 — we track the timeline in our Wynn Al Marjan opening date explainer. Online: Play971, run by Coin Technology Projects LLC, the sole company licensed for internet gaming and sports wagering — see our Play971 rules explainer. Lottery: The UAE Lottery, operated by The Game LLC, plus long-running duty-free draws. There is no licensed casino in Dubai, and anything offering casino gaming without a GCGRA licence is illegal — our guide to spotting unlicensed gaming offers explains the red flags. For the full picture, read what is legal in UAE gaming right now.

FAQ

Does Caesars Palace Dubai have a casino? No, and it never did. It opened in November 2018 as Caesars Entertainment's first non-gaming resort and operated without gaming until the brand left in late 2023.

What happened to Caesars Palace Dubai? Caesars' exit was announced on 13 September 2023. That November the hotel was rebranded Banyan Tree Dubai, co-managed by Banyan Tree Group and Ennismore — both part of Accor — under a deal with Dubai Holding.

Did Caesars ever have a UAE gaming licence? No. The GCGRA, the UAE's sole gaming regulator, was only established in September 2023 and has never listed Caesars. Skift reported the hotel left "having never secured a gaming license", and no application has ever been made public.

Is there any casino in Dubai? Not as of July 2026. The only land-based casino licence in the UAE belongs to Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, opening in 2027. MGM has said its Dubai project could be "a platform for a casino someday" but has no gaming permission.

Where can I legally gamble in the UAE right now? Online via Play971 (21+, physically in the UAE), and through The UAE Lottery and licensed draws such as Big Ticket and Dubai Duty Free's Millennium Millionaire. Casino gaming begins with Wynn's Ras Al Khaimah resort in 2027.

Can tourists gamble in the UAE? The same rules apply to visitors as residents for the licensed products. Our tourist gambling guide covers the details.

Further reading

• What is legal in UAE gaming right now
• Can tourists gamble in the UAE?
• Wynn Al Marjan opening date explained
• Wynn Al Marjan: alone on the GCGRA land-based register, April 2026
• Play971 rules explained
• UAE gaming licence tracker 2026
• How to spot unlicensed gaming offers in the UAE

Sources

• Caesars Entertainment, "Caesars Entertainment Announces Opening Dates for Caesars Bluewaters Dubai Resorts, Residential Tower & Beach Club" (31 October 2018): https://newsroom.caesars.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2018/Caesars-Entertainment-Announces-Opening-Dates-for-Caesars-Bluewaters-Dubai-Resorts-Residential-Tower-Beach-Club-10-31-2018/default.aspx
• Skift, "Caesars Palace Dubai to Close After 5 Years, to Become Banyan Tree Dubai" (13 September 2023): https://skift.com/2023/09/13/caesars-palace-dubai-to-close-after-five-years-in-uae-to-become-banyan-tree-dubai/
• ZAWYA, "Caesars Palace Dubai exits Bluewaters Island, to be replaced by new hotel brand" (14 September 2023): https://www.zawya.com/en/business/hospitality/caesars-palace-dubai-exits-bluewaters-island-to-be-replaced-by-new-hotel-brand-d8rs6mba
• Dubai Holding, "Ennismore & Banyan Tree Group ink deal with Dubai Holding to bring Banyan Tree to Bluewaters" (13 September 2023): https://www.dubaiholding.com/en/media-hub/press-releases/ennismore-banyan-tree-group-ink-deal-with-dubai-holding-to-bring-banyan-tree-to-bluewaters
• Gulf News, "Caesars Palace Dubai to be replaced by Banyan Tree resort on Bluewaters Island" (14 September 2023): https://gulfnews.com/going-out/caesars-palace-dubai-to-be-replaced-by-banyan-tree-resort-on-bluewaters-island-1.1694684967631
• SoloAzar (Howard Stutz), "Caesars ending its operations in Dubai" (14 September 2023): https://www.soloazar.com/en/category/casino/caesars-ending-its-operations-in-dubai
• CDC Gaming Reports, "Caesars Entertainment announces opening dates for its non-gaming Dubai resorts" (31 October 2018): https://cdcgaming.com/caesars-entertainment-announces-opening-dates-for-its-non-gaming-dubai-resorts/
• GCGRA, official site: https://www.gcgra.gov.ae/