RIYADH, May 28: A senior Saudi official on Monday shot down swirling media reports claiming the kingdom was set to end its decades-long ban on alcohol, calling the rumors baseless and untrue.

The speculation began last week when an obscure wine blog alleged that Saudi authorities planned to green-light booze sales in select tourist zones—a move reportedly aimed at polishing the country’s image ahead of the 2034 FIFA World Cup. The post offered no named sources but quickly gained traction across international media outlets.

Saudi Arabia, Islam’s birthplace and home to its holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, has long outlawed alcohol for Muslims. The kingdom's King also bears the revered title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques—underscoring the country’s deep religious significance.

While the ban remains firmly in place, Saudi Arabia has been busy rewriting parts of its social rulebook under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s sweeping reform campaign. Known as Vision 2030, the initiative aims to diversify the oil-reliant economy and open the gates to tourism and global investment.

In recent years, the kingdom has hosted music festivals, reopened cinemas, and relaxed rules on gender mixing in public spaces—changes that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. In 2017, Saudi Arabia made global headlines by lifting its notorious ban on women drivers.

Still, the idea of legalizing alcohol has stirred fierce debate online, with many Saudis citing religious and cultural red lines that remain non-negotiable.

As it stands, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the only Gulf states that continue to outlaw alcohol entirely. However, as per BBC report, Saudi Arabia has quietly opened its first official alcohol store—but don’t expect to grab a bottle anytime soon unless you’re part of the diplomatic corps.

The exclusive shop, located in Riyadh’s high-security Diplomatic Quarter, will cater solely to non-Muslim diplomats, who have long been allowed to import alcohol via sealed “diplomatic pouches.” Saudi officials say the move is part of an effort to clamp down on the black market and curb the “illicit trade of alcohol” that’s flourished despite the kingdom’s ironclad prohibition laws.

Alcohol has been outlawed in Saudi Arabia since 1952, following a scandal that rocked the monarchy: a son of King Abdulaziz fatally shot a British diplomat while allegedly drunk, prompting a sweeping ban that’s lasted more than seven decades.

According to documents obtained by AFP and Reuters, diplomats shopping at the new store will face a quota system. Each customer is capped at 240 “points” of alcohol per month, where one liter of spirits counts for six points, a liter of wine equals three points, and a liter of beer just one. Though the controls exist, the restrictions are not described as especially rigorous. Still, the store will remain firmly off-limits to ordinary expats and tourists in Saudi Arabia, who are not entitled to consume alcohol under current law. So while diplomats may soon be sipping their scotch legally, the rest of the kingdom remains firmly dry—for now.

For now, it appears the Saudi stance on spirits isn’t budging—World Cup or not.