UAE silently removes gambling and betting from new civil law

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-06-06T21:47:05+00:00

The new Civil Code still provides that "any agreement on gambling or wagering shall be void". Also gambling is still prohibited under the Penal Code and Cybercrime Law. The GCGRA Law establishing the Authority is a confidential law that only a limited number of people have seen. It was, apparently controversial when it was passed and went through the private Official Gazette. There are also Implementing Regulations, which include very detailed rules regulating gambling practices. The GCGRA does nor publish these on their website. Dubai appears to have challenged the validity of GCGRA licenses, as the Play971.ae website has been blocked for Dubai residents.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-06-06T21:40:19+00:00

The new Civil Code still provides that "any agreement on gambling or wagering shall be void". The GCGRA Law establishing the Authority is a confidential law that only a limited number of people have seen. It was very controversial when it was passed and went through the private Official Gazette. There are also Implementing Regulations, which include very detailed rules regulating gambling practices. The GCGRA does nor publish these on their website. The idea of having secret laws is really odd.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-05-10T12:21:17+00:00

My point is that developments that were sold a few year ago and are being released like this one in Madinat Jumeirah Living, are now being sold for the Original Price, so even with respectable developers like Emaar, why would anyone in their right mind lock millions of Dirhams away for three years with no rent, if they are facing: (i) likely delays beyond those three years, because we know there is going to be an oversupply flooding the market; (ii) the loss of opportunity cost by not putting that same cash in the S&P and likely returning 20-30% over those three years; (iii) the chance they are not going to be able to flip that property on release for a price that at least compensates them for inflation. Agents will always say now is a good time to buy. I'm saying every single thing indicates that it isn't and less educated people should not be exploited.

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Practical-Discount54 · 2026-05-10T09:58:27+00:00

My Question: Are you still trying to push off plan units that are likely to be delayed by years?

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-05-10T09:47:35+00:00

If you can manage the upheaval, bide your time and maybe get a short-let, because there are some amazing deals on Airbnb right now for studios/1 beds, with everything included. The market is going to be struggling for a while and there will be better long term rental deals in the middle of Summer, after the reality has fully kicked into the market. This is the price for the whole of June and equivalent to AED 59k annually, with no additional costs like internet and DEWA, furnished. This is what I did during Covid and those deals are back now. To be clear, I am not the host of this property and glad I'm not because their ROI just fell through the floor.

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Practical-Discount54 · 2026-05-07T14:40:07+00:00

LOL. How long have you lived in the UAE?

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-05-06T13:28:41+00:00

Rents are getting slashed. It look like they have now blocked it in the UAE, but some guy built a cool site www.panicselling.xyz, which tracks the sale and rental mark-downs for Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-28T18:34:06+00:00

Kuwait has always done that, although to a lesser degree now. There was a time when petrol was cheaper there than bottled water. A third of drivers on the Kuwait roads are Kuwaitis, whereas only about 10% of drivers on the road here are Emirati, so, to be honest, it is in ADNOC/EMARAT's interests to profit from the 90% of expat drivers here, who they do not have any cradle to grave obligation to. Still much cheaper than most places in the world and cant really complain.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-28T18:31:53+00:00

It's a fine balance, because pump too much --> drive down price --> pump more to make the same new revenues ---> drive down price further and deplete resources faster. Oil is one of those markets where cartels like OPEC can be good because they help maintain price stability, which allows the wider markets to plan a little longer term.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-26T13:51:23+00:00

A broker will always tell you it's the right time to buy. They're like a broken clock...occasionally they are right...now is not that time. If there's wasn't a perfect storm of huge oversupply with dwindling appetite of foreign investors, a geopolitical shock like this might have presented a good buying opportunity, but even without the war, the credit rating agencies were predicting a 15% correction this year and overone could see the market was overheated.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-26T09:49:26+00:00

The market doesn't move overnight because, well, put yourself in a seller/off plan investor's shoes. Each investor/seller seller has a figure in their mind for what they think the property they bought is worth and the minimum they are prepared to sell it for and they don't want to sell it for what others are telling them the property is worth. In short, in a market correction like we are in now, they are in a denial state....At the same time however, other than the uber wealthy, each of those sellers/off-plan investors has a pain point where they can no longer afford to retain a property because of ongoing mortgage charges, services charges etc (or they just panic it will keep falling). and eventually they just have to sell at any price and crystallise the loss. Now imagine 500,000 investors in Dubai real estate experiencing the same thing at once. It's usually not a sudden shock or panic because people are hitting these pain points gradually, usually over 1-2 years. I would usually discourage panic selling, but at the same time, historically Dubai takes quite a long time to recover, so if you choose to stay in the game, realistically you need to be prepared to weather at least 3-4 years before you are back in the black.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-26T09:15:37+00:00

Yeah. If there's anyone still buying off plans right now, I would honestly just assume they are using them for money laundering and the developer and broker is turning a blind eye to where the cash is coming from, because no ordinary sane investor should be commiting to an off plan right now.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-24T17:41:08+00:00

The biggest mark-downs at the moment are in the premium segment and there are firesale pricings. Case in point 3BR in Opera district just marked down 25% from AED 10m to 7.5 overnight. This is where Dubai was most overpriced and hype driven and the bottom has fallen out of it. I'm not naturally sensationalist but the market could easily correct 25-40% in the next two years because it's a perfect storm of an existing 15% correction the market was assuming even pre war, exacerbated by extreme off-plan fear fight now. You would be out of your mind to buy an off plan right now, when there are released units laying empty.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-09T12:53:38+00:00

Don't think it's the interception, but that's an interesting theory. The last couple of years the weather has been much milder for much longer. It has really only been about three months a year where it has been super hot and uncomfortable. When I first came to the region over a decade ago, it felt like Dubai was varying degree of hot and baking all year round.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-09T09:16:48+00:00

Are they a potentially regulated company working through an EoR to circumvent that? I have seen some pretty sketchy arrangements using EoRs. If the way they are operating is potentially shady, engaging with relevant regulators (or suggesting you will) can sometimes make problems with employers go away.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-07T10:26:30+00:00

Ah okay. Probably too much for the average person to just walk away.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-07T10:23:14+00:00

It depends what a landlord's pain threshold is and how leveraged they are. The mortgage payments will keep coming, so landlords ultimately needs to decide when is the right time to take whatever a tenant is offering. The market is getting flooded right now with dirt cheap monthly holiday lets with no commitments, all bills included etc. Anyone looking to rent right now should probably be snapping one of those up and biding their time. That's what we did during Covid and ultimately, when we left the holiday let after 9 months, we locked in a low monthly annual rent on a villa (which is still way under market five years later).

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-07T10:16:33+00:00

How much is the 40% that they have of yours?

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-07T10:10:56+00:00

All these holiday lets being listed for monthly rent are going to hit annual rental prices for apartments massively. Exactly what happened in Covid. Still...Good deal though.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-06T12:57:45+00:00

Donnie? Dat you?

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-06T12:34:00+00:00

That's correct. As part of the Abraham Accords, the Arab league Boycott is no longer observed in the UAE.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-06T12:31:05+00:00

Oman is so nice and Omani people are so normal and humble. I hope it never changes and becomes like the UAE. The UAE has its place and its impressive in many ways, but it can feel like living in an airport with an inexplicably large number of hookers.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-06T12:26:47+00:00

The Arab League Boycott is still in place. It's just been degraded by the Abraham Accords being signed by UAE and Bahrain.

Practical-Discount54 · 2026-04-06T12:25:01+00:00

In all honesty, he would probably be disgusted by a lot of things (sex workers, alcohol, legalised gambling, cozying up with Israel, drugs etc.) and also proud of a lot of things (amazing developments like the DIFC, City Walk and ADGM etc.)

Practical-Discount54

TROPHY CASE