Alberta’s parliament is setting the stage for private operators to participate in its mobile sports betting and iGaming industry, currently controlled exclusively by PlayAlberta.
Legislative Support
PlayAlberta is the province’s government-controlled iGaming and sports betting platform that currently has a monopoly on the sector. However, Bill 48, the iGaming Alberta Act, passed its second reading last week, and a third reading by the Committee of the Whole is pending.
The United Conservative Party has a majority in the legislature, and the party fully backs the measure to allow private entities into the market. The bill seeks to expand the market with brand names like Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel competing in the same way as they do in Ontario and the U.S. markets.
The bill aims to eliminate the grey market sites that account for over half of the province’s gambling and get those sites licensed to pay taxes. The consensus among the province’s lawmakers is to forge an iGaming and sports betting model in the same vein as the one successfully operating in Ontario.
“There are a significant number of Albertans who are potentially being preyed upon by grey market sites or illicit sites,” Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally said during debate on his bill earlier this month. “This legislation proposes to change that.”
“The reality is that online gambling is alive and well in this province,” Nally said, per the Canadian Press. “Let’s suppose this legislation doesn’t pass; that won’t stop online gambling from continuing to grow.”
Launch Date Unknown
Although the prospects for the passage of Bill 48 appear to be excellent, politics can be fickle, and there is no sure thing until the final approval. The regulations still need to be fleshed out by the committee members and agreed upon by the parliament.
At the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in October, Nally was asked about a launch date even though a formal bill had not been sponsored at that time. Nally suggested the fall of 2025 was feasible.
“Obviously, I’m being bullish,” Nally said. “But at the end of the day, I don’t know the date. What I can commit to is we’re going to put the legislation in the spring. And once we do the spring legislation, then we’ll write the regulation. So anytime thereafter. In fairness, I can’t tell you it’s going to be August, September, October, November, but I’m pretty confident that we’re going to be able to say 2025 we’ll be able to offer a legal, regulated space for iGaming.”
An estimate by a U.S. banking firm with expertise in the iGaming industry stated that Alberta could generate more than $700 million in revenue per year, which would make it the eighth-largest North American market.
“We’ll make the right decision about how soon we can get something out,” Nally said. “We’re not going to postpone it just so that we can combine it with something else.”
Nally also said it is important that the Alberta market is welcoming to private industry, which will cause them to join forces instead of remaining in the grey market devoid of regulation and tax encumbrances.
“We’re going to make it as seamless as possible for them to enter the market,” Nally said. “We want to make it as attractive as possible.”
