Ras Al Khaimah built for a property boom around a casino, but the casino is running late. The low-profile emirate, best known for its ceramics, has been reinventing itself around Wynn Resorts’ $5.1 billion Al Marjan Island resort, which will house the Gulf’s first legal casino. However, the Iran war has caused logistics problems and undermined the tourism sector, prompting Wynn to delay the resort’s planned spring 2027 opening by a “modest,” if unspecified, amount.
The emirate’s wider real estate market is also slowing. Developers have launched more projects than there are buyers, AGBI reported. Prices have started to ease, though they remain near four times their 2021 level. If the casino plans do move ahead, the UAE gambling market could be worth $3 billion to $5 billion a year, about 1% of national output.