Explainer · Verified 2 July 2026
Mahzooz & Emirates Draw: What Happened, and What Replaced Them
By Khalid Al Mansoori · Last verified
By Khalid Al Mansoori · Last verified
Both Mahzooz and Emirates Draw were popular UAE weekly prize draws that predated formal gaming regulation. During 2024 the UAE moved to a single, federally regulated national lottery under the GCGRA. The legacy weekly draws paused, and the official licensed national lottery role passed to the UAE Lottery, operated by The Game LLC. Neither legacy brand is the GCGRA-licensed national lottery today.
Jump to: the timeline · what Mahzooz was · what Emirates Draw was · Mahzooz vs Emirates Draw · the one-operator ruling · what replaced them · is it legal now? · FAQ
The confusion around “mahzooz emirates draw” comes from a genuine change in how the UAE regulates lotteries. The two brands ran for years as prize/raffle draws, then the 2023–2024 regulatory reset consolidated national lottery activity into one GCGRA-licensed operator. Here is the sequence as publicly reported:
Exact operational dates for the legacy brands vary between sources; treat the above as the publicly reported sequence, not an official legal record.
Mahzooz (Arabic for “lucky”) launched in 2020, operated by EWINGS, and became one of the UAE’s best-known weekly draws. Its headline product was a Saturday grand draw: players picked numbers, paid a fixed entry (bundled with a bottled-water purchase to fit the pre-regulation prize-draw model), and competed for a large fixed AED grand prize plus multiple raffle winners. It built a big following — which is exactly why “is Mahzooz back” is still a common search today.
Mahzooz paused its weekly grand draw in early 2024. It did not relaunch as the old fixed-AED weekly draw. The regulated national lottery role now sits with The Game LLC under the GCGRA.
Emirates Draw ran a suite of weekly games — commonly marketed as MEGA7, EASY6 and FAST5 — each with its own price point, odds and prize structure, alongside a sustainability/charity narrative. Like Mahzooz, it operated as a prize-draw/raffle product before the GCGRA framework existed. Its original weekly AED-prize draws wound down during the 2024 transition to a single licensed national lottery.
This is the most-searched comparison in the cluster (“mahzooz or emirates draw”, “which is better”). The honest answer in 2026 is that the comparison is now historical — neither is the licensed national lottery. For reference, here is how the two legacy brands broadly differed:
| Feature | Mahzooz (legacy) | Emirates Draw (legacy) |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | EWINGS | Emirates Draw |
| Core format | Weekly Saturday grand draw + raffle | Multiple weekly games (MEGA7 / EASY6 / FAST5) |
| Entry model | Fixed AED entry (bundled purchase, pre-regulation) | Per-game ticket price |
| Positioning | Big fixed grand prize | Tiered games + sustainability narrative |
| Status in 2026 | Legacy weekly draw paused (2024) | Original weekly draws wound down (2024) |
| GCGRA national lottery licence? | No | No |
Format details describe the pre-2024 legacy products as publicly marketed at the time and are provided for context, not as current offers.
The core reason both brands changed is regulatory, not commercial. When the GCGRA was created as the federal regulator, national lottery activity was consolidated under a single licensed operator rather than several competing weekly draws. That single national lottery licence went to The Game LLC in July 2024. In practical terms, the pre-regulation prize-draw era ended and a licensed, regulated framework replaced it.
To understand who the GCGRA is and how the licence categories work, see our GCGRA explainer, and for the legal backdrop read is gambling legal in the UAE.
The official replacement is the GCGRA-licensed UAE Lottery, operated by The Game LLC — the first and only national lottery licence holder. It is a regulated product with defined draw mechanics, official winner verification and a proper licensing footing, which is the key difference from the older raffle-style draws. Full detail on how it works, tickets and eligibility is on our UAE Lottery guide.
| Question | Legacy Mahzooz / Emirates Draw | UAE Lottery (The Game LLC) |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator | Pre-GCGRA prize-draw model | GCGRA-licensed |
| Licence | No national lottery licence | First national lottery licence (Jul 2024) |
| Status 2026 | Legacy draws paused / wound down | Official, operating |
| Where to read more | This page | UAE Lottery guide |
We do not publish “winning numbers” for any draw. For official results always use the operator’s own verified channels — do not trust third-party numbers presented as authentic.
A draw is only a licensed UAE national lottery if it holds the GCGRA national lottery licence — which today means the UAE Lottery by The Game LLC. That is the honest bright line. Legacy Mahzooz and Emirates Draw products were pre-regulation prize draws, not GCGRA-licensed national lotteries, and any draw or gambling product that is not GCGRA-licensed is unlicensed. Unlicensed gambling remains a criminal offence under Federal Decree-Law 31/2021, with the cybercrime layer in Decree-Law 34/2021 and civil-enforceability changes under Decree-Law 25/2025.
Be cautious with copycat sites or apps using the old brand names to harvest sign-ups or payments — if a “Mahzooz” or “Emirates Draw” product asks for money and is not the GCGRA-licensed UAE Lottery, treat it as unlicensed. For the wider legal picture see UAE gambling laws and is online casino legal in the UAE.
The lottery is only one part of the GCGRA-licensed picture that replaced the old grey-area products:
Mahzooz paused its weekly grand draw in early 2024 after the UAE moved to a single-operator national lottery model under the GCGRA. It did not relaunch as the old AED-prize weekly draw. The licensed national lottery role now sits with The Game LLC, which runs the official UAE Lottery.
Mahzooz operated under a raffle/prize-draw structure before the GCGRA framework existed. Since the GCGRA became the sole federal regulator, the only licensed national lottery is the UAE Lottery by The Game LLC. Any draw that is not GCGRA-licensed is not a licensed UAE lottery, and unlicensed gambling remains a criminal offence under Federal Decree-Law 31/2021.
Emirates Draw wound down its original weekly AED-prize draws during the 2024 transition to a single GCGRA-licensed national lottery. The official, regulator-licensed lottery in the UAE is now the UAE Lottery operated by The Game LLC, which requires age 18+ and an Emirates ID or passport.
The GCGRA now issues a single national lottery licence, held by The Game LLC (UAE Lottery). A draw is only a licensed UAE lottery if it holds that GCGRA licence. Legacy Emirates Draw products were not GCGRA-licensed national lottery draws, and any unlicensed gambling is a criminal offence under Decree-Law 31/2021.
Both were popular UAE weekly prize draws that predated GCGRA regulation. Mahzooz (operated by EWINGS) centred on a Saturday grand draw with a fixed AED grand prize plus raffle winners; Emirates Draw ran multiple weekly games (MEGA7, EASY6, FAST5). Both were legacy raffle-style products, not the single GCGRA-licensed national lottery that exists today.
The GCGRA-licensed UAE Lottery, operated by The Game LLC, is the official replacement. It received the first national lottery licence in July 2024 and is the only draw that is a regulated, licensed UAE national lottery. It is separate from the legacy Mahzooz and Emirates Draw brands.
Editorial note: This page is general information about the Mahzooz and Emirates Draw brands and UAE lottery regulation, not legal advice. Brand statuses and dates reflect publicly reported information and may change — verify current status with the official GCGRA and each operator’s own channels before acting. Play responsibly — see our Responsible Gaming resources. 21+.
Last verified 2 July 2026 against public reporting and the GCGRA licence framework.
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