Alberta expands online gambling market, aims to capture illicit players

Alberta is set to expand its online gambling landscape by allowing multiple private operators to legally offer services, moving beyond the province's current single regulated site, Play Alberta. This decision follows the passage of Bill 16 in May, which empowers the provincial government to regulate and oversee iGaming activities by private companies.

The expansion aims to bring Alberta closer to Ontario’s model, which saw $1.48 billion in gaming revenue in its first year of allowing multiple operators. Alberta's existing regulated site, Play Alberta, currently captures only about half of the online gambling market, with offshore websites like Bet365 and Bodog drawing significant numbers of players.

"The goal here is to get rid of the illicit market," said Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally. "The best way to get rid of an illicit gambling market is to have a healthy, regulated market for both operators and players to come to."

The government has held consultations regarding the new framework but has yet to set a date for the market's official opening. Nally emphasized that safety and responsibility are key priorities in the upcoming system. "Gambling inherently will never be safe. But the question is, is there a safer way to do it?" he added.

Operators have raised concerns about sharing player information with a competitor like the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), which currently runs Play Alberta. "We heard loud and clear that it was important that we had responsibility to conduct and manage gaming within government," Nally noted.

Experts have voiced concerns about the potential harms associated with increased access to online gambling. David Hodgins, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Calgary, urged the government to focus on safeguards. "It’s really the safeguards that I’m most concerned about, whether we need to have that many operators in the market," he said.

Alberta is considering implementing provincewide self-exclusion tools and mandatory limit-setting to mitigate gambling addiction risks. Revenue-sharing arrangements with private operators are still being finalized, with Alberta aiming to strike a balance that ensures operator participation while maximizing public revenues. In Ontario, the government takes 20% of regulated gambling site revenues.

According to the AGLC, a 2023 survey revealed that 72% of Albertans aged 18 and over participated in gambling, up from 70% in 2022.