Why the U.A.E. Is Building a $5B Casino in the Gambling-Free Gulf | WSJ Breaking Ground

forbidden gambling, a Las Vegas giant is going all in with the UAE's first-ever casino, part of a $5.1 billion resort. Even as tourism gets more competitive in the Middle East, analysts view the UAE's gambling pivot as a bold move. We really don't do small. We really only look at Gateway cities that can support very large-scale development. The question is whether this gamble will pay off or if building a casino in a deeply conservative society could be a massive mistake. The casino is being built here, Al Marjan Island. It's a man-made archipelago dredged more than a decade ago in Ras Al Khaimah. It's the northernmost emirate in the UAE, and while it's about an hour's drive from Dubai , it's a world apart from its glitzier neighbor with far less development and more rugged landscapes. Now, Ras Al Khaimah's leaders are trying to leverage that natural beauty to create a hub for tourism , and they're trying to drive investment by developing the country's first casino with Wynn. From a new opportunity and new development perspective, this is the most exciting market for what we do to open in many, many years. After this project opens, 95% of the world's population will be within an 8-hour flight of a Wynn resort. No other integrated resort company can say that. When it opens in 2027, Wynn says the casino resort will have more than 1,500 hotel rooms, 22 restaurants, and 130,000 square feet of retail space, in addition to 12 pools, a theater, and a private beach. Gaming operation is inherently an important revenue driver, no doubt. But generally, it's actually a very small percentage of the larger resort. While Wynn will have the only casino, dozens more hotels and residential projects are planned on Al Marjan Island from brands like JW Marriott, Nobu, and Fairmont. Ras Al Khaimah's tourism department authority increase tourism from 1.3 million annual guests to 3.5 million by 2030. The emirate could use more visitors it's much poorer than its neighbors. In 2024, Ras Al Khaimah had a GDP per capita of $31,100 compared to 79,000 in Abu Dhabi. They are struggling a lot. They're not only competing with the citizens of other emirates, but also a large number of expatriate population. Mira Al Husain says that despite Ras Al Khaimah's lucrative ceramics and pharmaceutical industries, many locals still can't get jobs. While new resorts will need thousands of employees, Al Husain said many locals won't want to be associated with gambling or alcohol for religious or social reasons, especially in a more conservative northern emirate like Ras Al Khaimah. Wynn says it already has more than 100,000 work applications, but added most employees will come from abroad. The way they justify it is saying this is meant for the expats.