Pollard Banknote has secured a gaming vendor licence that allows it to supply solutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The UAE’s federal regulator for lottery and commercial gaming, the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), approved the Winnipeg-based lottery giant to provide retail merchandising solutions, print products for traditional non-lottery retailers and digital products.
Pollard Banknote is now authorized to provide gaming-related goods and services to regulated lottery operators within the UAE.
The UAE has been developing fast as a gambling market since the GCGRA was introduced in 2023. Former Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) executive Kevin Mullally is the Emirates regulator’s CEO and ex-MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Mullen is its chair.
The country introduced its initial framework for legal gambling and casinos last August and also launched its first-ever regulated lottery in 2024. According to the GCGRA’s website, it has since licensed more than a dozen gaming suppliers in recent months. Other companies approved to supply products include Light & Wonder, Aristocrat, International Game Technology (IGT), Novomatic and Konami Gaming, which received its licence last week.
In May of this year, the GCGRA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). The two regulators will work together on responsible gambling, technology and innovation and cybersecurity.
“We are very excited for the wide variety of opportunities this new license will afford Pollard Banknote,” said the company’s co-CEO Doug Pollard. “We are eager to foster a strong partnership in the UAE and introduce our portfolio of proven, innovative lottery and gaming products and services that will help boost revenue and support charitable causes.”
A full-service lottery and gaming provider with operations in North America and Europe and lottery clients across the globe, Pollard Banknote has decades of history in supplying physical lottery products and has an increasing digital presence. It supplies instant ticket products, licensed games, in-lane ticket options, merchandising and a full suite of digital offerings including game apps and player engagement and iLottery solutions to its partners, as well as other services.
It is a leading lottery partner to more than 60 lotteries worldwide, including numerous Canadian crown corporation lottery platforms. Last summer, it signed a five-year extension to its 35-year instant ticket agreement with the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation (ILC), ensuring that it will continue to provide products and services to the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Loto-Québec, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) until the end of 2028.
This spring, Pollard Banknote acquired 100% of Pacific Gaming, a company that specializes in electronic bingo products, services and management systems, for around $14.4 million CAD. Pacific Games is now part of Pollard Charitable Games Group.
Earlier this month, Pollard Banknote signed a deal with Instant Win Gaming (IWG) to offer the supplier’s extensive portfolio of eInstant games to its iLottery clients.
