The operator of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lottery, The Game LLC, is making use of geolocation technology ahead of planned nationwide launch later this year.
The state-backed company has partnered with Xpoint, a geolocation technology firm which has provided its services to various other gaming stakeholders across multiple other markets.
As it stands, The UAE Lottery is one of only six state-owned national lotteries in the Middle East while the UAE is one of only six Muslim majority countries worldwide to have an official national lottery.
However, the lottery is subject to strict regulatory requirements, including the establishment of exclusion zones throughout the country where no form of gambling will be permitted. The government sees geolocation as a necessary regulatory requirement to enforce this.
Manu Gambhir, CEO of Xpoint, commented: “We are thrilled to be the geolocation provider for The Game LLC and The UAE Lottery. This collaboration underscores our commitment to delivering the most accurate and reliable geolocation services, ensuring compliance with the UAE’s regulatory framework.”
As stated above, The Game LLC / UAE Lottery are the only licensed gaming firms in the UAE, holding a permit from the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), the country’s gaming regulator founded in 2023.
The UAE’s status as a tourism and commercial hub has made the prospect of a gambling market an increasingly lucrative one for the government, which has also been focusing on cultivating a fintech sector in recent years to further diversify its economy.
Any developments in the gaming market will be tightly regulated though, and the UAE wants to ensure that gaming does not occur in the exclusion zones while also preventing any cross-border gambling.
This may be because the prospect of people in neighbouring countries, which like the UAE have Islam as a state religion, could have the potential to become a political issue.
Bishop Woosley, Director of Lottery Operations at The Game LLC, said: “Engaging with Xpoint ensures that The UAE Lottery meets the country’s stringent data requirements.
“By utilising a private cloud, all data remains on UAE soil, aligning with local regulations and ensuring the highest level of data security.”