- Top Dubai Casinos: See reviews and photos of casinos & gambling attractions in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Tripadvisor.
- Answer 1 of 8: Hello everyone, i am off to Dubai on Sunday and have never been, i was wondering if there are any casino's in Dubai?? Many thanks and all the best - Al.
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If you compare Dubai to a county like Canada, where both bricks and mortar, and online casinos are allowed then you will note quite a difference. For example, you can go through these comprehensive online casino reviews to see the top online casinos that operate in Canada. If you are Canadian that is travelling to Dubai.
Cancun Casinos are a relatively new addition to the endless list of things to occupy your time here in the Mexican Caribbean.In our view the best four Cancun Casinos are currently:
In my opinion the best Casino in Cancun is Red.
Grand Oasis is one of the few resorts with casinos in Cancun. Located at Km 16.5 of the Cancun Hotel Zone it is my favorite gambling venue.
Open 24 hrs a day 7 days a week with English-speaking Staff, Red is the only Casino to actually be located inside a resort. Games on offer include Roulette, Craps, Texas Holdem and Baccarat. Sportsbook betting is also on offer with live streamed greyhound and horse racing.
There are a huge sections of various slot machines. Drinks are complementary for players, as is food as long as you are actively participating. Of the three Casinos discussed here, Red currently has the best reviews on Trip Advisor with an average score of 4 out of 5.
Dubai Palace is located on Ave Tulum approximately half a mile outside of the city heading towards the airport. They offer a reasonably priced buffet three times a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Dubai Place is open 24/7 and offers the usual array of table games such as Roulette and Blackjack. Most of the staff speak Spanish only but there are a few who do speak English. Dubai Palace’s review score on Trip Advisor is 3.5 out of 5.
Occupying 100,000 square feet (0.93 ha) the Dubai Palace is Cancun’s largest casino and is home to over 450 slot machines featuring familiar brands such as Williams, Nova Star and Bally.
The first proper Cancun casino to open was Casino Palace on Tulum Avenue downtown, a little North of Plaza Las Americas.
The facility is spread over two floors with slots and televised sporting events occupying the lower floor. Upstairs is a rather chic games room where roulette, blackjack and poker can be played.
The VIP room is equipped with various computerized games such as Blackjack, Roulette and Texas Holdem. Again the style of play is to pre-purchase credits with the cashier, this time you exchange cash for a debit card which you then subsequently enter into the machines.
Credits and debits are automatically added or subtracted from the card as you play. English-speaking staff are always at hand and the Dubai is a popular location for tourists who will enjoy the buffet available from morning until midnight.
There are three menu changes throughout the day offering 11 different selections per meal with drinks and dessert too.
Royal Yak is located inside Plaza Las Americas in downtown Cancun. Recently refurbished this casino is not as large as the two mentioned above.
It also has the worst Trip Advisor review score of the three with just 2.5 out of 5. Royal Yak offer the usual table games as the casinos above although there are fewer tables. Food and drinks are an extra cost unless you are a known regular or gambling high stakes.
For years local gambling laws prevented casinos from opening up in Cancun and various ‘get a rounds’ were proposed. These included an ambitious project to float a gambling ship located off the coast of Cancun. The idea being it would actually be far enough away to be classed as International waters such that local laws did not apply.
However, despite being talked of for years nothing ever came of it. Cancun remained a casino free zone, except for Play City Casino at Plaza Kukulcan. Play City Casino was hardly worthy of the name though in my opinion. Just a few low value slot machines and certainly no real casino games such as poker, blackjack or roulette.
Around 2010 something changed and Cancun casinos started appearing here and there. It seemed as each one opened it became bigger and grander than the last. A whole new option for Cancun nightlife became accessible.
I don’t know what happened to effect this change, maybe there was a change in the law or maybe it was decided to just not enforce it anymore. But one thing is for certain, in 2019 it looks as if Cancun casinos are here to stay.
In those early days there were no chips and no dealers! You were seated with other players and the games were played via video machines.


You purchased your “chips” as paper credits from the cashier and entered the numbers into the machine to receive your electronic chips. Hostesses were on hand to serve complementary drinks to players, for those who are just watching and enjoying the atmosphere drinks may be purchased.
In December 2010 none other than the famous Playboy brand opened the first Cancun casino in the Hotel Zone.
However, it only lasted a few years and has been closed ever since. Playboy Club Cancun was situated at Km 3.5 close to Temptation Resort and Spa. It occupied the building that used to be Caliente Sportsbook throughout the prior 10 years or so.
The Playboy club was upscale, modern and attracted well-to-do locals of Cancun in addition to tourists.
I think it’s downfall was probably the fact that there was a membership fee required and at 200 pesos (around $18USD). It was quite expensive for a casual visitor although not such bad of a deal for a frequent patron.
Drinks were also expensive at 60 pesos ($5) for a beer and not complementary for players. What set Playboy apart from the rest though, is that they were first to offer real live games with dealers and of course, Playboy bunnies. Latina style!

The lower area at Playboy Cancun hosted TV screens showing live sports events, the usual slots, around 6 blackjack tables and 1 each of roulette and craps. The upper floor also had slots and poker tables.
Cancun is not Vegas and hopefully it never will be. To me there is far too much to see, do and enjoy in Cancun than to while away those precious hours gambling in a dark casino.
However, for those that do enjoy the experience then you should be able to find casinos in Cancun that more than meets your needs.
Closest Casino To Dubai Airport
Being the biggest city of UAE (United Arab Emirates), Dubai has made a huge name for itself as the top business destination in the entire Middle East. When it comes to gaming, Dubai follows the exactly same rules that are applicable to the rest of the Emirates. Hence, you’ll see almost no gambling happening under the strict Islamic law here. As a result, many interested gamblers turn to online casinos that accept players from UAE on their platforms. Here’s a list of things you should avoid doing when travelling to Dubai.
Religious opposition to gambling
As mentioned earlier, gambling is not legally permitted in Dubai, as is the case with anywhere in UAE. The government and culture of the UAE strictly goes by the Islamic law, considering indulging in games of chance a huge sin. However, that doesn’t mean that Muslims don’t gamble ever. But betting with any real money is clearly disapproved of, and hence there’s a great deal of uniformity regarding such a ban in all the major Islamic nations.
Hence, despite being quite popular among business travellers, you won’t find any casinos in Dubai. Furthermore, you won’t also find any card rooms, legal sports betting options or lotteries in the city. Any form of betting through brick-and-mortar establishments is strictly prohibited.
If you compare Dubai to a county like Canada, where both bricks and mortar, and online casinos are allowed then you will note quite a difference. For example, you can go through these comprehensive online casino reviews to see the top online casinos that operate in Canada. If you are Canadian that is travelling to Dubai, it is worth keeping this in mind that what you do at home may not be ok in Dubai- even if it is gambling online.
Having said that, certain activities bearing close relation to betting are permitted nevertheless. For instance, you can witness plenty of horse races in Dubai. For instance, Meydan Racecourse which has both turf and dirt tracks can be seen hosting a large number of thoroughbreds from all parts of the world as well as the local Arabian horses competing against each other, often for big cash prizes. Dubai World Cup has for long been recognised as the biggest horse race in Dubai where the best horses from the world compete for millions of dollars. Although bettors from different parts of the world can punt on these races from their own respective countries, you can’t do so legally in the UAE.
Although no local online casinos, playing at foreign-based websites might be possible
Keeping in mind the strong ethical stance that UAE has against all forms of gambling, they don’t place equally stricter restrictions on online gambling opportunities provided by foreign-based operators. Not much can be done against the foreign-based online casinos and gambling platforms that accept players from Dubai and other parts of the UAE. Therefore, in practice, you might be able to access foreign-based online gambling platforms from Dubai. In fact, there are cases where players are able to freely play at online casinos with real money, at such offshore websites.
There are a good number of reputed software developers that license out their games to online casinos that accept Dubai players, including Microgaming, Play’n Go, Betsoft, NetEnt and Playtech.
Strong measures have been taken to ensure that no one runs any online gambling website from within the country though.