lending the brand to hoteliers<\/a>. Bob Morse, the company’s president of hospitality, said its Bluewaters partners Meraas put any gambling talk “to rest very quickly.”<\/p>\nExpanding Tourism<\/h2>\n
The largest and most populated city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), over the last decade Dubai leaders have made an effort to become less reliant on oil. Expanding the tourism sector has been a focal point, and billions of dollars have been invested, many of which are monies tied to the House of Al Falasi, the Dubai royal family.<\/p>\n
One of the city’s main draws are the artificial islands built in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n
Dubai is today the sixth most-visited city in the world, according to the World Economic Forum. Nearly 15 million people visited in 2017, a number that’s behind only Hong Kong, Bangkok, London, Singapore, and the world’s richest gambling hub, Macau.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nDubai is thought to be a progressive city, and has eased some restrictions on what’s otherwise considered haram vices. Adult non-Muslims are permitted to consume alcohol in licensed venues typically found in city resorts.<\/p>\n
But gambling — often included on so-called “sin industry” lists, along with alcohol, tobacco, weapons manufacturing, and sex-related products — is unlikely to be coming to Dubai anytime soon, if ever.<\/p>\n
However, city officials in Dubai have an ambitious goal of welcoming 20 million tourists a year by 2020, which would make it the third most-visited locale in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dubai will soon become home to hotel properties branded by MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, but area officials say don’t get the wrong idea: casinos and gambling aren’t coming to the region. Gambling is considered “haram” under Islamic law: a forbidden activity that goes against sacred texts found in the Quran. During an interview with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":76414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,18,13592,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Dubai Tourism Chief Says City Won't Become Gaming Destination<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n