Alberta opens online gambling market, following Ontario's lead

Alberta opens online gambling market, following Ontario's lead

Alberta has some key differences in terms of advertising and responsible gaming regulations

Sports betting and online casinos run by private, commercial operators are now legal in Alberta.

The new market came into effect as of Monday morning. Alberta is now the second province in Canada to open its market to private operators, after Ontario did so in 2022.

Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally told CBC News that 22 operators are now allowed to take bets in the province, with more expected over the coming three months.

Operators will take 80 per cent of gambling revenues, with the province taking the remaining 20 per cent.

Nally estimated the province will earn $76 million in the first fiscal year of the new regulations, but said it was never about the money.

"Seventy per cent of online gambling that was happening in the province was occurring in the black market and there's no player safety controls," Nally said. "They have no player responsibility guardrails, and so we wanted to put in a legal, regulated framework that put player safety first."

Dozens of gambling operators apply for licensing ahead of provincial market opening

Alberta has taken some cues from Ontario, which has allowed such a market for four years now.

The revenue splits between operators and the provincial governments are the same. Much like the system is set up in Ontario, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) will serve as the regulator, while the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) will oversee the iGaming market.

A key difference, however, is that Alberta has introduced centralized self-exclusion from the very beginning, whereas Ontario only enacted the policy this year. Someone who deems themselves a problem gambler can sign up and effectively ban themselves from in-person and online gambling platforms in the province for up to three years.

"Alberta set that out as a condition right from the start," said Robert Williams, a professor at the University of Lethbridge and research co-ordinator with the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.

He also mentioned Alberta's more stringent guidelines for advertising.

"They're trying to do it in a somewhat more socially responsible way than Ontario."

Cory Fox, FanDuel's senior vice-president of public policy, noted specific ways the company is trying to create a safe experience for its users.

"Deposit limits, wager limits, time limits, something called a time out if you want to take just a little bit of time off," Fox said.

"We know some users may sometimes intentionally forget about their losses … we really want to make sure that folks are taking a sober look at exactly what they did on the platform over the past month."

They also have a real-time check-in, which analyzes users' habits and provides feedback.

"When the customer deposits spike, we step in and say, 'Hey, usually you deposit X. You're attempting to deposit Y, which is higher than X. You should consider lowering your deposit or setting a deposit limit going forward,'" Fox said.

Williams warned to expect a "significant uptick" in advertising in Alberta given the new open market.

"The advertising tends to have a disproportionate impact on two groups of people. One is young people, in terms of shaping their interest in the topic and brand preference, as well as people who are having difficulty controlling their gambling. These constant reminders are often precipitators for relapse."

When Ontario opened its market in 2022, celebrities like Wayne Gretzky encouraged viewers to wager on gaming products they endorsed. The province reversed course two years later and banned such advertisements. Now, influencers and celebrities can only promote safe gambling initiatives.

Alberta has a similar policy, but enacted right from the market launch as opposed to years later.

"The use of active or retired athletes is only allowed for the exclusive purpose of advertising responsible gaming practices," AiGC CEO Dan Keene told CBC News in May.

A big shift for online gambling in Alberta

Impacts of an open gambling market

Williams and his team found an increase of about 50,000 problem gamblers in Ontario following its launch, a number he deemed to be very small. They recently completed a study on problem gambling rates and were surprised at their findings.

"We expected, given the legalization of online sports betting and the significant increase in online gambling across Canada, that there would be a significant increase in problem gambling," he said.

"There wasn't. In fact, it was unchanged from 2018, with one exception, that being Ontario, which went up 0.5 per cent."

He anticipates a similar result in Alberta.

"We're somewhat inoculated or habituated against [the advertising]," he said. "I expect there will be an uptick in problems, but maybe not a big one."

Despite the buzz around the market's launch, Nally has a message for the public.

"If you don't gamble today, don't start," he said.

"If there was a big red button that I could push that would stop online gambling, I'd push that button, but that button doesn't exist."

Salim Valji has been a journalist since 2017. He started his career as an intern at CBC Montreal, before reporting for TSN, the New York Times, ESPN and the Montreal Gazette. He has extensive experience in television and in print and has reported in both official languages.