Gaming and esports in Saudi Arabia
A public tournament, an arena or a gaming centre in the Kingdom each need a different permission from the entertainment authority, and a new law has just rewritten which is which.
Ticket levy ceiling
Потолок сбора
10% per ticket
10% с билета
Top fine
Потолок штрафа
SAR 1,000,000
1 000 000 SAR
Law in force after
Закон заработает
180 days
через 180 дней
Appeal window
Срок на жалобу
60 days
60 дней
When a gaming or esports event in Saudi Arabia needs legal support
You are bringing a tournament in
A public event is a regulated activity in its own right, and the permission for it is temporary: it is issued for the event itself rather than for the company behind it.
You are opening a gaming centre
Running entertainment centres and theme parks is licensed instead. A licence is the standing instrument: it has a term, it is renewed, and it is what an inspector asks to see.
Your ticketing partner is not accredited
Ticket sales and crowd organisation are supporting activities with an accreditation certificate of their own. The organiser is left explaining a partner who lacks one.
The event is invitation only
Private events and shows to which the public is not invited sit outside the law entirely. Where that line runs decides whether you file anything at all.
Your permission predates the new law
The rules you worked under are being replaced. The new law is published, its implementing regulations are still to come, and what you hold today has a shelf life.
What you get
- The right instrument named for each part of your programme
- A file built for the authority that will inspect it
- Supporting vendors accredited before they sign with you
- Advertising cleared against the authority's own controls
- A calendar that survives the switch to the new law
What is required for gaming and esports events in Saudi Arabia
Entertainment in the Kingdom answers to the General Entertainment Authority, and the framework it works under has just been rewritten. The Law on Entertainment Activities and Supporting Activities was approved by the Council of Ministers on 16 June 2026 and published in the official gazette on 3 July 2026. It comes into force one hundred and eighty days after publication, and the authority's board has the same one hundred and eighty days to issue the implementing regulations.
The law draws the subject narrowly and usefully for this industry. Entertainment activity means running theme parks and entertainment centres, holding events and shows, and holding live shows. Supporting activity means crowd organisation and management for those events, and providing booking and ticket-sales services. Games played for money are not among them, and this track is not a route to them.
Everything else we do in the country is on the Saudi Arabia page, and the practice this page belongs to is Events & Tournaments.
Three instruments, and which one you need
Licence, for standing venues
Required before operating a theme park or an entertainment centre. It carries a term and is renewed, and the regulations will set both.
Permit, for events and shows
A temporary permission, required before holding an entertainment event, an entertainment show or a live show. A tournament open to the public belongs here.
Accreditation certificate, for support
Required before providing crowd organisation and management, or booking and ticket sales. Your security and ticketing partners each need their own.
None of the three, for private events
Events and shows to which the public is not invited are excluded from the law. The board may also exempt an activity from the permit requirement.
What the law fixes, and what it leaves to the regulations
Fixed in the law itself: nothing may be run without one of the three permissions, and other authorities' requirements still apply on top. The board sets the charges for issuing, renewing, amending and suspending them, and the authority may take up to ten per cent of the value of each ticket sold. It may also classify permission holders and activities and certify that classification.
Also fixed: inspection. Inspectors named by the board may enter venues, read records, take complaints and call on the security services, and they may give a violator a stated period to put things right first. Penalties run from a warning to a fine of up to one million riyals, a ban of up to five years from any entertainment or supporting activity, and cancellation or suspension of the permission. Anything carrying up to ten thousand riyals is issued on the spot. A repeat within a year may be doubled, and a decision is challenged in the Administrative Court within sixty days.
Left to the implementing regulations: the conditions and procedure for each permission, its term, how long the authority has to decide, what happens on cancellation, and how visitor complaints are handled.
Sources: the Law on Entertainment Activities and Supporting Activities, official gazette of 3 July 2026, articles 3 to 16.
Stages of work
Reading the programme against the definitions
An arena final, a closed qualifier, a fan zone and a retail activation are four different things under this law. We sort your programme before anything is filed.
Choosing the instrument for each part
A venue you keep takes a licence; an event you hold takes a permit; the partners around it take accreditation. Most programmes need more than one of the three.
Assembling the file, and the other approvals
The authority's requirements sit on top of everyone else's, so the file is built alongside the municipal, safety and media approvals the format calls for.
Accrediting the partners before they sign
Crowd management and ticketing contracts are checked for the certificate, and the obligation to hold one is written into the contract rather than assumed.
Clearing the advertising
Promotion of the event follows the controls the authority issues, and the licence holder answers for it. Creatives and partner copy are read before the campaign opens.
Preparing for inspection
Inspectors may enter, read records and take complaints on site. We put the permissions, contracts and safety file where they can be produced on the day.
If something goes wrong
A notice usually comes with a period to fix the problem. Where a penalty is imposed, it is challenged in the Administrative Court within sixty days of notification.
Moving onto the new law
Once the implementing regulations appear, terms, decision times and renewal conditions become known. We re-read your permissions against them and put the dates in your calendar.
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