UAE Gaming Vendor Licences: Who Is Building the Supply Chain for Wynn and Play971

Last updated: 24 July 2026

The clearest public window into how the UAE's gaming market is being built is not the casino headlines — it is the gaming-related vendor register. The General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), the country's sole gaming licensing authority, treats suppliers of gaming equipment and related goods and services as part of the regulated market, not outsiders to it. Since late 2024 it has been licensing the companies that will supply Wynn Al Marjan Island's casino floor and the platforms behind Play971.

Key takeaways

• Vendor licences are an official GCGRA category covering suppliers of gaming equipment and related goods and services; only GCGRA licensees may do business in UAE commercial gaming.
• The public register listed 18 vendor licensees on 14 April 2026; approvals announced since, including Endorphina in May and RGB International in June, take the reported total past 20.
• Aristocrat was first, in October 2024. PayBy followed in November 2024 as the first fintech, and Yolo Group's Live88 became the first licensed live-casino studio in October 2025.
• The wave has two demand centres: Wynn Al Marjan Island, the only land-based licensee, opening in 2027, and Play971, the only licensed online gaming and sports wagering operator.
• A vendor licence is not an operator licence. No vendor on the register runs a consumer-facing gaming product in the UAE.

What a gaming-related vendor licence is

The GCGRA's licence types page defines gaming-related vendors as suppliers of gaming equipment and of related goods and services. The definition is broad: it reaches casino-floor hardware, lottery systems, game content, payments, geolocation, data and integrity services. The licensing page extends the prohibition on unlicensed activity to third parties supplying the industry, and only valid GCGRA licensees may do business in UAE commercial gaming.

In practice, approval signals three things: the company sits inside the federal regulatory perimeter, it has passed the GCGRA's screening and documentation process, and it is expected to hold certifications from GCGRA-approved testing laboratories. We covered that side in our guide to UAE gaming technical standards.

The vendor wave, in order

The register is not dated entry by entry; this timeline is built from company announcements and trade reporting.

• October 2024 — Aristocrat. The first gaming-related vendor licence, for slots and gaming systems. PayBy Technology Projects LLC followed on 18 November 2024, announced as the first fintech authorised to serve GCGRA-licensed operators.
• April–June 2025 — lottery and slots content. EQL Games (April), IGT (May) and Fennica Gaming (June, the tenth vendor licensee) joined Novomatic, Smartplay International, Xpoint, Scientific Games and Random State on the register.
• July 2025 — Light & Wonder and Pollard Banknote. Light & Wonder (listed as LNW Gaming, Inc.); lottery supplier Pollard Banknote confirmed its licence on 28 July.
• October 2025 — the online layer. Yolo Group subsidiaries Hub88 Holdings and Live Online Gaming Services (Live88 and OneTouch) were licensed on 7 October, making Live88 the UAE's first licensed live-casino studio. Sportradar's licence took effect on 21 October, covering sports data, analytics and integrity services.
• December 2025 — racing content. Arena Racing Company, listed as Arena Leisure Ltd, was licensed on 22 December to offer its Racing1 Markets horse and greyhound racing service to UAE licensees.
• May 2026 — Endorphina. The Prague slot supplier received a Gaming-Related Vendor Licence (Tier II) on 7 May; Gaming Intelligence reported four supplier approvals that week, naming Endorphina and IGT.
• June 2026 — RGB International. The Malaysian electronic gaming machine supplier announced its licence on 3 June, a move widely read as positioning for Wynn's 2027 opening.

Two buyers are driving the supply chain

The first is Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, the only company on the GCGRA's land-based register: a $5.1 billion project with a gaming floor of roughly 225,000 square feet. Wynn said on 7 May 2026 that shipping disruption had caused a "modest delay" to its 2027 opening, with a revised timeline still unpublished — we track that in our Wynn opening date explainer. The machine and equipment names on the vendor register — Aristocrat, Novomatic, IGT, Light & Wonder, Konami, TCS John Huxley and now RGB — read like a casino-floor procurement list.

The second is Play971, run by Coin Technology Projects LLC, the only company listed for internet gaming and sports wagering. The platform went live on 28 November 2025 and added a full sportsbook in June 2026. Its supplier stack maps directly onto the register: Xpoint for geolocation, Hub88 for game aggregation, Live88 for live dealer tables and Sportradar for sports data, with live games streamed from a licensed Abu Dhabi studio, per Khaleej Times. PayBy handles payments on sister brand TrueWin. The June 2026 Fanatics–Momentum joint venture, approved by the GCGRA as a change in control, is set to become platform provider for The UAE Lottery and Play971 alike.

Vendor licence, operator licence, testing lab: three different things

These categories are easy to conflate. An operator licence covers entities running internet gaming, sports wagering, land-based gaming facilities or lotteries — see our guide to the five GCGRA licence categories. A vendor licence sits one step back: it authorises supplying those operators, not offering gaming to the public. Approved testing laboratories such as GLI and BMM are separate again — they certify products and systems rather than supply them. For the April 2026 snapshot, see our update on GCGRA vendor licensees.

What the register still does not tell us

Four gaps remain. The GCGRA does not publish the approved scope of each vendor licence, so what a company may actually supply is known only from its own announcements. There is no public mapping of vendors to operators. Grant dates are not listed entry by entry. And the register does not explain its tiering — Endorphina's approval was described as Tier II, but no public GCGRA document defines the tiers. Where this article describes a vendor's role, the source is the company's own statement or trade reporting, not the register.

FAQ

What is a gaming-related vendor licence in the UAE? A GCGRA licence for suppliers of gaming equipment and related goods and services. It authorises a company to do business with licensed UAE gaming operators, not to run gaming for the public.

How many gaming vendors are licensed in the UAE? The register listed 18 vendor licensees on 14 April 2026. Approvals announced since — four reported in May, plus RGB International in June — take the reported total past 20 as of July 2026.

Who was the first licensed gaming vendor in the UAE? Aristocrat, in October 2024. PayBy followed a month later as the first licensed fintech, and Yolo Group's Live88 became the first licensed live-casino studio in October 2025.

Which vendors will supply Wynn Al Marjan Island? Wynn has published no supplier list. The register's machine and equipment licensees — Aristocrat, Novomatic, IGT, Light & Wonder, Konami, TCS John Huxley and RGB International — are the plausible candidates, but no vendor-to-operator relationship has been officially confirmed.

Which companies supply Play971? Reported suppliers include Xpoint (geolocation), Hub88 (game aggregation), Live88 (live dealer) and Sportradar (sports data), all on the vendor register.

Does a vendor licence mean a company operates a casino in the UAE? No. Only operators run consumer-facing gaming: currently Wynn Al Marjan Island for land-based, The Game LLC for the lottery and Coin Technology Projects LLC for online gaming and sports wagering.

Further reading

• UAE Gaming License Tracker 2026
• GCGRA vendor licensees: the supplier layer, April 2026
• Wynn Al Marjan's UAE gaming licence
• Play971: the UAE's only licensed online gaming operator
• Coin Technology Projects' UAE licences
• Is online gambling legal in the UAE right now?

Sources

• GCGRA, "Our Licensees": https://www.gcgra.gov.ae/en/licensing/our-licensees
• GCGRA, "License Types": https://www.gcgra.gov.ae/en/licensing/license-types/
• AGB, "Malaysia's RGB International secures UAE gaming vendor license": https://agbrief.com/news/uae/03/06/2026/malaysias-rgb-international-secures-uae-gaming-vendor-license/
• European Gaming, "Endorphina secures GCGRA gaming-related vendor licence Tier II in the UAE": https://europeangaming.eu/portal/press-releases/2026/05/07/203652/endorphina-secures-gcgra-gaming-related-vendor-licence-tier-ii-in-the-uae/
• Gaming Intelligence, "Endorphina and IGT among latest UAE licence approvals": https://www.gamingintelligence.com/legal/230348-endorphina-and-igt-among-latest-uae-licence-approvals/
• Hub88, "Hub88 and Live88 receive UAE gaming-related vendor licences": https://hub88.io/uae-licences/
• European Gaming, "Yolo Group secures UAE Gaming Vendor Licences from GCGRA": https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2025/10/07/193254/yolo-group-secures-uae-gaming-vendor-licences-from-gcgra/
• AGB, "Arena Racing Company secures UAE Gaming-Related Vendor License": https://agbrief.com/news/uae/22/12/2025/arena-racing-company-secures-uae-gaming-related-vendor-license/
• ZAWYA, "PayBy awarded gaming-related vendor license from the GCGRA": https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/companies-news/payby-awarded-gaming-related-vendor-license-from-the-gcgra-f2eejha9
• iGaming Expert, "Fennica Gaming receives UAE licence with future potential": https://igamingexpert.com/news/business/fennica-gaming-awarded-uae-licence/
• Gaming Eminence, "UAE's Vendor Licensing Wave: Building the Tech Stack for Wynn Al Marjan": https://www.gamingeminence.com/post/uae-s-vendor-licensing-wave-building-the-tech-stack-for-wynn-al-marjan
• Khaleej Times, "Play971 UAE: Full guide to access, sports wagering and restrictions": https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/play971-uae-full-guide-to-access-sports-wagering-and-restrictions