The United Arab Emirates’ first “gaming” resort will open in four years and cost $3.9 billion to build, said US casino operator Wynn Resorts, while sharing details of the flamboyant project. Wynn operates casinos in Las Vegas and Boston as well as Macau.
The resort will feature “exceptional entertainment and gaming amenities,” the operator said. Preliminary construction work has begun on Wynn Al Marjan Island, set on a man-made, hotel-studded promontory off Ras Al-Khaimah. The resort, with 1,500 rooms, 24 dining and lounge areas, spa facilities, high-end shopping and nightly laser and light shows, will open in early 2027.
Artists’ impressions of the site, which is about an hour’s drive from the commercial hub of Dubai, showed a brown-gold high rise towering above a beach area and circular marina, as well as a luxuriously appointed lobby.
Foreigners make up 90 percent of UAE’s population. The country has made a series of liberalising moves in recent years. Gambling is generally prohibited under Islamic laws in the oil-rich Gulf state, but Ras Al-Khaimah’s tourism development authority last year announced a new body to regulate “integrated resorts,” including gaming facilities.
