The Game’s director of lottery operations, Bishop Woosley, tells Gaming Intelligence how the world’s newest lottery is already exceeding expectations in the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE Lottery has only been in operation since last November after being built from the ground up by Momentum Group’s The Game.
It is unusual for a lottery to launch without the platform technology of one of the leading lottery suppliers such as Scientific Games, Brightstar Lottery (formerly IGT) or Intralot, but that is exactly what The Game has done with a homegrown UAE solution.
And the results so far have been impressive. In less than eight months, The UAE Lottery has more than 500,000 registered players and awarded prizes to 200,000 players, including three AED 1 million prize winners and 130 AED 100,000 winners. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Building our own system and platform under the comprehensive regulatory framework of the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) gave us a lot of freedom to move fast,” explains Woosley, who joined The Game a year ago. “Launching a new platform is a huge initiative, getting staff in place and getting qualified professionals to relocate to Abu Dhabi, UAE. We’ve done an excellent job of that. We had a launch on November 27th, and in very short order, we had over 500,000 registered users on the platform, which is phenomenal, to be honest with you. And obviously we have continued that momentum since that time.”
The lottery initially launched with five games on its platform, including the flagship Lucky Day game with a grand prize of AED 100 million, and four digital scratch cards.
Since then, another set of digital scratch cards has been rolled out, alongside a new Pick 3 daily draw game and two eInstant games, with more games to follow.
“We’re taking a deliberate approach to ensure we get every detail right,” says Woosley. “And like I tell my staff, every time we do something, we want to make sure we do it right. Considering all the circumstances and timing, it’s pretty incredible to be where we are. We’re ahead of expectations.”
This is not Woosley’s first lottery launch, having helped launch the state-run Arkansas Lottery back in 2009, taking an off-the-shelf solution system from third-party providers including Intralot and Scientific Games.
“Building our own system was completely new to me,” Woosley continues. “I anticipated it would take longer, but it didn’t. And so far, we’ve not had any major issues or anything of that nature. Where we are is truly incredible, given the circumstances, and especially in a completely new market which has never had anything like this before.
“We’ve got a whole tech team and development team that has built this. It predates me being there, as it started in July 2024. We have internal staff handling this, and they’ve done an excellent job.
Getting off the ground
Since 2009, the Arkansas Lottery has generated more than $7.9 billion in sales and returned more than $1.5 billion for scholarships to benefit Arkansas students. The lottery has awarded more than $5 billion in prizes to players, more than $451 million in retailer commissions, and provided more than $186 million in state and federal tax revenue.
“Going from zero to lottery in Arkansas was difficult,” Woosley recalls. “We did that in short order as well, and the good thing about it is I know a little bit about what not to do, and I know about how to set expectations and understanding of timelines. So that was helpful. And then we’ve got other lottery professionals from other jurisdictions that had knowledge as well.
“Everyone has a good understanding of what needs to be done. Every jurisdiction is different. The regulatory structure is different, and maybe we need to slow down or speed up, but generally, everything’s been smooth, and we’ve met all the expectations that I had. We’re about seven and a half months in now, so we’re in a pretty good spot. It seems like we launched yesterday, but time flies.”
Woosley currently has a “sizable” team based in Abu Dhabi, where The Game’s parent company Momentum is headquartered, including a strong local talent pool.
“We’re growing fast, and we’ve got a great team of technical people who have a lot of expertise in security and compliance, and a crew of people who have a wealth of experience in the lottery world. We’ve got a really good mix of personnel at this point. And obviously, as we grow, we’ll continue to add people with lottery experience, compliance experience, technical experience, and all the things that go along with that.”
So far there have been 15 national lottery draws since launch, but Lucky Day’s top prize of AED 100 million (approx. US$27.2 million) has so far eluded players. A big jackpot win could bring even more attention to the lottery.
“When people see a winner, especially someone local, it sparks real interest,” Woosley points out. “That visibility drives registrations and play, far more than abstract numbers ever could. Winner campaigns generate a level of exposure that’s incredibly valuable for us. It’s about celebrating the moment, creating that emotional connection, and putting a human face to the win. That kind of storytelling moves people.
“Big jackpots require careful planning, but the impact they unlock is undeniable. Paying out AED 100 million is a serious commitment, but the exposure and engagement it fuels far outweighs the cost. It’s not just about the prize, it’s about the spotlight that comes with it.”
EQL Games integration
A key part of The UAE Lottery’s plans to expand its portfolio of content is through EQL Games, which was recently announced as the lottery’s primary third-party content supplier. EQL’s iLottery Marketplace comprises more than 20 partner studios and over 300 games, alongside titles developed by its newly established in-house game studio, EQL Labs.
This collaboration has already seen the first two iLottery games go live – Marble Run and Lucky Lagoon – both developed by Swedish supplier Random State.
“From my US experience, I’m familiar with EQL and Brad Cummings has done an excellent job in the last two to three years of integrating with some of the largest lotteries in the US, and doing it fairly quickly,” says Woosley. “We knew our team would be fully focussed, so bringing in third-party content early allowed us to move faster and deliver more.”
Previously known as EquiLottery, EQL has been making waves in the last couple of years and already has digital lottery partnerships across three continents, working with US state lotteries in Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia, as well as in Peru with Loterías Torito. Its first iLottery launch was less than two years ago.
“They’ve got a track record of integrating fairly fast, even with a completely new system,” Woosley says. “We integrated somewhere between 90 to 120 days from the time we signed the contract. It was a no brainer for me to partner with them. They probably have the most successful track record of integrating with lottery systems in the world at this point. Fastest to market and that’s what we needed.
“We’re about to launch our second set of games through the EQL funnel, and we’ll continue that relationship and have a nice catalogue of eInstant games. Everything for us at this point is fastest to market. I’ve always said with the lottery, you’ve got to have a diverse catalogue of games. You’ve got to add content at a fairly regular cadence.
“In the US, we launched new instant tickets every month, with a strong focus on keeping things fresh and engaging for players. They expect fresh content, new games, and engaging features to keep them coming back to the website and hold their attention. So, it’s important to deliver compelling experiences that they truly enjoy.”
Seasonality and retail expansion
Leveraging seasonality within lottery games is an important way for lotteries to keep players engaged. This might be slightly different in the UAE however, where Islam is the dominant religion. A large expat community, however, means that festive occasions such as Easter and Christmas are still widely celebrated in the region.
“We’re in a stage right now where I think we’re getting a hold of what the players like, what player preferences are, and trying to figure out seasonality in every lottery is important,” says Woosley. “We are getting to know our players, starting to get some insight from them in the form of surveys and feedback. And we’ll pay attention to that and try and create and launch games that they like. So far, it’s going really well.
“We are starting to get a handle on when people migrate in and out of the country, whether they go home during the summer, or if they come during the late fall. You need some data to understand what’s happening, when sales are up or down, and when it’s time to take action.”
While the immediate focus for the lottery’s online platform is to increase the range of games it offers, the next phase of The UAE Lottery’s development is already underway – expansion into retail.
“The plans for retail are ongoing. It’s going to be different than a normal retail launch, in that there’s not going to be 1,000 retailers that we just do a big bang and turn the system on,” Woosley reveals. “We’re going to take more of a measured approach, but it’ll be soon.”
The lottery will be working with Scientific Games for instant tickets and Pollard Banknote for pull-tabs, alongside its portfolio of draw games and eInstants.
This will eventually be backed up by second chance promotions, where winning or non-winning tickets provide an additional opportunity for players to win prizes.
“It will be later on, but I certainly think that it would be advantageous for us to do that,” continues Woosley. “Again, we are trying to ascertain who our players are and what they like, what type of price points they like, and whether they buy in retail. Pick 3 is a good example. It’s typically a really good retail game. We’ve been very happy with the online sales for Pick 3 so far.
“But once we launch retail, maybe we’ll have a better understanding of who the player is in retail and be able to adjust accordingly. Once we get a decent retail rollout, we’ll have a good understanding of what the mix needs to be – what percentage of sales are going to be in retail and what percentage will be online – and how we can leverage that one way or the other to cross promote.”
While there are limitations on where people can play the lottery online, such as religious areas, there are also limitations on where the lottery can sell via retail.
“There are clear guidelines on that in the UAE,” Woosley says. “We want to be mindful and respectful of some of the limitations in UAE, and we fully abide by those and be very considerate of them as we launch retail.”
And where does Woosley see the lottery in one year’s time?
“I would say that we would like to see a continuation of the momentum of registered users. I would like to see us be in a good place in retail. I don’t want to assign a number to it, but we have some pretty good relationships with larger retail establishments in the country, so we want to be launched in those areas, and then have a good headwind towards “mom-and-pop” independent retailers.
“And then, we have the majority of our product pipeline rolled out to where, or at least the initial product pipeline, rolled out to where we have a pretty good catalogue of games for our players. Then we can really start doing some insight and analysis to determine where to go from there.”
Woosley is optimistic that the lottery will continue to attract new players, with registered customers continuing to rise since its launch.
“We’ve been able to ramp up our awareness and marketing here lately, and we’ve seen a spike in the last few weeks with that. You typically see a spike near a Lucky Day Draw. Obviously, we had a big bang at the beginning where we had a bunch of registered users in the first month or month and a half, and then I think we’ve seen a gradual, continued amount each week. It’s encouraging to me that we’re continuing to have this.
“We are getting approvals from the regulator as to the content, and we’ve tried to keep it fairly generic at this point. We most recently launched outdoor billboards within the jurisdiction, we’re taking a very measured approach towards that. We want to make sure that we don’t step outside of where we need to be. And then, as we grow we’re doing social media – Instagram, Facebook and Twitter – and that’s mostly been a winners’ campaign or awareness of the Lucky Day Draw so far.
“We’re trying to step out there, bring awareness to the product, awareness to our winners, but also take a very measured approach. I compare us to some of the US lotteries and how many registered users they have, and they may have been selling online for five years. In my mind, we’re competing with that, or actually exceeding those rates, so I’m confident this will continue.”
These are early days but momentum is gathering for the world’s newest lottery.