Momentum and Fanatics launch UAE gaming joint venture after GCGRA approval

Momentum Group, the UAE’s first gaming licensee, has formed a joint venture with Fanatics to run and expand commercial gaming activities in the market. For PSPs and payment teams, the key point is that all of Momentum’s existing commercial gaming licences and operations are being folded into the new structure, and the change in control has already been approved by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA).

1. The joint venture will combine Fanatics’ product and technology with Momentum’s commercial gaming licences in the UAE and its existing local operations. The terms have not been made public yet, but the structure is already clear: the licensed entities currently under Momentum are moving into the JV.
2. Those entities include the UAE Lottery and Play971, the commercial gaming site operated by Momentum. The GCGRA has approved the change in control for both licensed businesses, which matters because this is the regulatory gate that decides who can actually touch the operation.
3. Fanatics is bringing product, technology, and experience of scaling quickly in the US. Momentum and Fanatics say they will jointly invest in technology, product, customer experience, and new responsible gaming and player protection safeguards.
4. Momentum COO Scott Burton described the UAE as “one of the world’s most carefully regulated commercial gaming markets” and said the partnership reflects the confidence that framework creates. In plain English: this is not a loose brand deal, it is a regulated operating vehicle in a market that is being built with a tight control set.
5. The timing is also telling. Momentum won the tender to operate the UAE Lottery in July 2024, through its subsidiary The Game LLC, and the lottery launched in December 2024. Play971 then became the first fully licensed iGaming business to launch in the UAE in November 2025, later adding sports and race betting in June this year.

For high-risk operators and payment providers, the structure matters as much as the headline: the UAE is not just opening doors, it is licensing, approving control changes, and layering player-protection requirements around the business. That usually means banks and PSPs get a cleaner compliance story, but also a narrower operating box.