An Open Market in Alberta’s Online Gaming Market Nears the Finish Line

A third reading and approval of Bill 48, also known as the iGaming Alberta Act, would allow private online gaming operators entry into Alberta’s mobile sports betting and iGaming market.

A Monopoly No More

Alberta is one of the few North American markets that allows mobile sports betting and online casino gambling. Ontario, along with seven U.S. states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, are among those that have launched iGaming markets, and the more commonly found sports betting that has been legalized in 32 other states.

However, only Play Alberta has a licensed monopoly in the Sunshine Province, with several grey market options that control more than half of the gaming market. Lawmakers in Alberta have mirrored Ontario’s blueprint to opening up the market and inviting private gaming operators in to give bettors in the province a choice of mobile sports betting and online casino gambling options.

Mobile sports betting, as well as digital slots, table games and poker would all be allowed to private operators, as it is now for Play Alberta. The primary goal is to generate more activity, which would ultimately yield greater returns for the province through the taxes generated on gaming revenues that are derived from it. Many of the grey market operators available in the province that currently pay no taxes would be licensed and thus subject to tax.

 To this end, Bill 48 was created, and it would allow North America’s major online gaming powerhouses to join Play Alberta in competing for the province’s online gambling dollars.

Done Deal…Almost

The iGaming Alberta Act, sponsored by Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally, has been approved in its first two readings, with only one more hurdle to clear. Due to the Conservatives’ clear majority, Bill 48 is expected to pass and become law when the Committee of the Whole sends it to the full legislature for a third and final reading.

“Online gambling is here,” said Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally, Bill 48’s sponsor, in the legislature earlier this week. “What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to make it safer.”

The Alberta iGaming Corporation would be created to award sports betting licenses to the market’s private gaming operators, while the existing Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) would oversee the iGaming sector.

Although critics claim there are not enough regulations currently included in Bill 48, supporters counter that argument by noting there is still much work to be done. Once the measure is approved, there are still regulations and oversights to address. The tax rate, as well as guidelines for advertising and responsible gambling programs, are just a few of the key components that will need to be instituted before the bill takes effect and the expanded digital gaming industry in Alberta is launched.

“This legislation is just enabling legislation,” Nally said. “We don’t want to put player safety in legislation. We want to put it in regulation so that if we see something that we want to turn around on a dime, we’re able to do it through an order-in-council, not a new piece of legislation.”

Should the legislation pass, as is expected, the Alberta market would be available to private gaming companies either later this year or, more likely, in the second quarter of 2026.