After several months of waiting, Alberta Minister of Service and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally announced Alberta will become the second regulated market in Canada. This was the province’s formal announcement that they plan to open a regulated market alongside Ontario. The news was broken by Dale Nally at the Canadian Gaming Summit. Nally had this to say.
“Let me tell you a little bit about what our gaming site is going to look like,” said Nally. “It’s going to be very similar to Ontario, because we’re following their model. As far as I’m concerned, they build the roadmap. We’ll massage it a little bit but it’s been inspired by the experience in Ontario. It’s going to be an open and free market.”
The AGLC will not regulate the Alberta market
At the moment, the only regulated online gambling site in Alberta is PlayAlberta. That is run by the government and is operated by Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis (AGLC). However, Dale Nally noted that the AGLC will not operate the new regulated market in Alberta. Nally agrees with many third-party operators in Canada. They’ve expressed reservations about sharing sensitive information with competitors.
Earlier this month, Alberta lawmakers passed Bill 16, the Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act. This will allow Alberta to follow Ontario’s lead and appoint an entirely new regulatory body to oversee the market. For example, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario holds the title of regulator. However, they have a subsidiary known as iGaming Ontario. They are responsible for conducting and managing iGaming operations in Ontario. It permits them to grant access to third-party operators in the Ontario online casino market. That includes sports betting and poker markets.
Will the regulated gaming market in Alberta be open by 2025?
In the past, it looked like Dale Nally’s framework to open Alberta’s gaming market was on track for 2025. However, he did not make a public comment last week about what their current timeline is. That doesn’t give operators a real answer as to whether they can expect to open in 2025. While there’s no definite answer as of now, the citizens of Alberta know they are going to have a regulated gaming market. It’s only a matter of time before it happens.
