Alberta’s regulated online gambling market is finally set to launch on 13 July, marking an end to its grey market status as the province expands the regulated options beyond government-run Play Alberta. But the transition date almost looked very different. Speaking at the SBC Summit Canada in May, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said everything had been in place for an earlier launch of regulated online sports betting and casino, only for operators to request the date be pushed back.
The delay reflects the careful, measured approach the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) has taken throughout the process. Much of that is down to keeping a close watch on Ontario before making its own move. Ontario launched Canada’s first regulated, commercial igaming market in April 2022, offering icasino and online sports betting. It gave Alberta something Ontario never had when building its framework from scratch: a domestic working model.
As Galen Flaherty, senior associate at Canadian law firm Borden Ladner Gervais, puts it: “Alberta kind of has the blueprint now from Ontario. It’s obviously been immensely successful.” The clearest sign of that success is channelisation, with Alberta starting from a similar point to Ontario. Before Ontario’s market opened, the provincial government estimated 70% of igaming activity was taking place on unregulated sites instead of Ontario’s Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).
By comparison, Alberta’s channelisation in 2025 was thought to be just 23% in 2025. Four years on, Ontario has achieved channelisation of 91%, according to figures released by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), as part of a study released in May by Ipsos.
Cameron MacDonald, a partner at the same law firm, says achieving a similar channelisation rate matters to Alberta. “Seeing the success of the channelisation efforts they’ve had in Ontario is certainly something that spurred Alberta on even more, to ensure they’re able to put players in a regulated market,” she remarks.
When Canada legalised recreational and medical cannabis under the Cannabis Act in October 2018, channelisation never got close to 50% and has stayed around that level, Flaherty explains. He says that to have igaming above 90% in Ontario is, by comparison, a real achievement. “They want to work with operators, and they want to get the public into a safe and regulated marketplace,” he adds.
Slow and steady…
So why did Alberta take so long? Both Flaherty and MacDonald believe it was about making sure the Ontario model actually worked for the province. Alberta had to consider how well the Ontario market performed and what local adjustments needed to be made, the pair note. Getting this through government simply took time. There was plenty to take from Ontario’s framework, but Alberta still needed to craft its own version.
The province’s ‘made-in-Alberta’ approach extended across the full regulatory framework. Successful licence applicants will pay taxes equivalent to 20% of gross gaming revenue (GGR), while a further 2% will be allocated for indigenous people, known as First Nations, and 1% towards social responsibility initiatives. There are also a one-time C$50,000 (£27,000) application fee and a C$150,000 annual registration fee, while platform providers pay C$15,000 and other suppliers including oddsmakers and platform providers are charged C$3,000 annually.
The industry was constantly kept in the loop as standards and requirements were finalised. The aim, MacDonald explains, “was very much: let’s try and launch this once and get it right at the beginning”. One of the clearest lessons Alberta took from Ontario was on player protection. The province will launch with a centralised self-exclusion system in place from day one. Ontario introduced its own equivalent, BetGuard, but not until much later in the market’s life, in May 2026.
Sarah McCarthy, CEO of the Responsible Gambling Council, which worked closely with Ontario at launch, says Alberta implementing a self-exclusion register from the get-go is significant. “We are excited about the fact they’re going to have centralised self-exclusion to start,” she remarks, but is careful to frame self-exclusion as one part of a broader picture rather than a solution in itself.
“We think self-exclusion is one of the important pillars in the responsible gambling framework and so the earlier that can be integrated the better. We don’t think it’s the only thing, though. It has to go along with tools. It has to go along with prevention education. We have to have this whole framework of support for players to be able to make decisions. And self-exclusion is one component of that.”
Flaherty likewise highlights that having the self-exclusion system ready from day one is “impressive and no small feat”. McCarthy also notes that RG Check accreditation, a responsible gambling standard all Ontario operators must complete, is a licensing requirement in Alberta, too, providing consistency across both markets.
Boots on the ground
When Alberta flicks the switch on its regulated market, it will end Play Alberta’s era as the province’s only legal igaming option. The government-operated platform has offered casino, sports betting and lottery since 2020, but has barely made a dent in the grey market. Alberta estimates that around 70% of its total igaming market is currently captured by unlicensed operators – giving the incoming regulated sector plenty of ground to win back.
The early signs suggest appetite from operators wanting to enter the market is strong. By the time a letter was sent to operators and stakeholders on 17 March confirming the launch date, nine unnamed firms had already paid the application fee from a pool of over 55 interested brands – while firms including DraftKings, Rush Street Interactive, Flutter Entertainment, Super Group and Caesars Entertainment have all stated their intention to be operational at launch.
For the larger operators, the approach is already becoming clear. Speaking during a fireside chat at SBC Summit Americas at the start of June, bet365 chief marketing officer Stephanie de Flora said the privately owned giant’s approach to entering Alberta will be similar in terms of marketing to that of other US states and Ontario: focused on understanding how the market works and moving with it as regulation comes in.
Bet365 also plans to lean on existing partnerships, as she pointed to the NHL agreement with the Colorado Avalanche as part of plans to expand its reach in Colorado back in 2024. But De Flora was clear marketing can only go so far. “The thing that is really important for Alberta and for our business overall is we need to continue to make sure responsible gaming and all the other regulations are being met at the end of the day because that’s what will drive a sustainable market for the long term,” she said.
Meanwhile, PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden detailed the firm’s plans when addressing the Alberta launch during the company’s Q1 analyst call in April. “Our focus is on Canada and getting ready for the Alberta launch,” he said. “We feel good about the setup there. We’ve done a lot of analysis on what worked for us with the Ontario launch and what maybe didn’t.” He added that PENN expects to replicate the momentum it has built in Ontario, with icasino likely to be the faster-growing segment. “I would expect for us to be at or above market growth in icasino and OSB.”
PENN operates theScore Bet in Canada, based out of Toronto, while theScore is a homegrown powerhouse media and live scores brand. Snowden confirmed on that same analyst call that the firm was granted approval to operate both its sportsbook and casino product in Alberta, though he expects the cost of the launch to result in a $20m (£15m) loss this year. In a newsletter post in April, industry analyst Steve Ruddock wrote that theScore Bet “is one of the top operators” in Ontario and that PENN estimates it has 10% market share in the province.
For operators already in Ontario, there may be a temptation to assume Alberta will be more of the same. Alon Segev, managing partner at Canadian law firm Segev LLP, warns against that presumption. “Alberta is not Ontario,” he states. “Alberta is really a distinct province culturally compared to the rest of Canada.” Segev suggests operators need to understand the local sports culture, the rivalries that matter and the role indigenous and charitable gaming play in the province. “I think you need boots on the ground to do well in Alberta. And when I say boots, I mean it literally.”
Beyond the opening odds
Defining what a successful market looks like depends on who you ask, but there is a general agreement on at least one early measure: the size of the registrant list. MacDonald says if Alberta ends up with a comparable number of registered operators to Ontario, that is a positive sign. The early indications are encouraging, with the number expected to reach 70 or more, he explains. “To me, success would be a robust registrant list of people who’ve moved over [from the grey market].”
A large operator base should drive a competitive product offering, and that, MacDonald argues, leads to the metric that really matters to the regulator. “If I’m the AGLC, I’m looking to see high levels of channelisation early on within the market, similar to what we saw in Ontario, to show that we’re bringing players into this regulated market with player protections that were specifically designed for the participants.”
The longer-term picture could be significant for Canadian gambling as a whole. Ontario has already become a top five GGR jurisdiction in North America within just a few years. Adding Alberta changes the picture further. “Canada’s really going to be on the map as a major gaming jurisdiction in North America,” MacDonald states.
Segev goes further, arguing that Ontario and Alberta have already begun to reshape how the rest of the world views Canada as a market. “Prior to Ontario going live, we used to go to these trade shows. There wasn’t much to talk about. Canada was largely a grey market, a really interesting grey market, but we saw tonnes of capital flight, all this money just leaving Canada.” That has changed, he notes. “Now when we go to these trade shows and conventions, Canada is a really interesting place. I think it’s the third-largest gaming market in the world now – the US, the UK and Canada. It’s been really transformative.”
So now, after years of planning, Alberta is primed and ready. The question is no longer whether the market will open, but who will succeed in it and what success actually looks like. The province has done the hard work. It has taken the Ontario blueprint, adapted it for its own market, consulted widely and built in player protections from the start. The launch date of course is not the finish line, it’s just the beginning, and whether Alberta can match what Ontario has achieved, never mind build on it, will become clearer over time. But, for now at least, the foundations look solid.
The post Made in Ontario’s shadow: Alberta’s road to regulation first appeared on EGR Intel.
Having closely monitored Ontario’s regulated gambling sector for its blueprint, all eyes are on the Canadian province as it transitions away from a grey market. Kadeem Simmonds reports.
The post Made in Ontario’s shadow: Alberta’s road to regulation first appeared on EGR Intel.