Per the latest update from Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis (ALGC), bet365 is now registered with the province as an online sports betting platform. So far 35 iGaming platforms, including nine online sportsbooks, have registered ahead of Alberta’s July 13 launch date.
Bet365 joins BallyBet, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, and theScore Bet as sportsbooks that will operate in the province, according to a May 29 update. All of those operators also appear to be planning to launch online casino platforms.
An additional 39 companies, including back-end providers IGT and Light & Wonder and Penn Interactive, are also registered as “critical gaming systems providers,” up from 22 at the start of May. The ALGC will work in tandem with the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) to oversee online gambling. The ALGC will be the regulator and the AiGC will liaise with operators.
Dale Nally, Alberta’s Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, told Gaming News Canada last week that he expects up to 70 operators to register for iGaming. Among them will be the provincial-run PlayAlbert, which the Canadian Broadcasting Company reports could be sold by the AGLC, a possibility that has raised some questions about privacy issues in the province in terms of customer information.
As operators and providers continue to prep for launch, Nally told Gaming News Canada that the province was ready to launch last month — but it was the industry that wanted more time. Alberta’s launch will be just ahead of the World Cup final and a month into the Canadian Football League season, which starts Thursday when the Montreal Alouettes play at the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
“I wanted to launch earlier,” Nally said. “We were ready to launch earlier. We were going to go in May, but it was the operators that said to us that they wanted us to hold back. Through consultation with [the] industry, we landed on July 13 as being that sweet spot, and so I am confident that we are going to be ready.”
Alberta currently has a thriving gray market online gambling sector, but as occurred in Ontario, gaming regulators will allow those operators to become licensed.
Where will the money go?
Under the new law, tax revenue from sports betting will go into a general fund and is not earmarked for any specific project. Nally told Gaming News Canada that the province must build “sidewalks and schools and hospitals,” but that how the funds are spent is ultimately “a treasury board and finance decision on how that’s allocated.” Operators will be taxed 20% on gross gaming revenue.
Revenue, Nally said, won’t be the measure of success.
“Our measure of success is going to be Albertans’ feedback,” Nally said. “Did they have a fun experience? Was it a safer experience? Was it a responsible experience? And if all those player safety and responsibility measures that we have laid out have been implemented, that will be the measure of success in our marketplace — the money, that’ll just be a bonus.”
There are some earmarks built into Alberta’s system — 2% of gross gaming revenue will be funneled to Alberta’s First Nations, and 1% of gross gaming revenue will be designated for problem and responsible gaming initiatives. The province will have a central self-exclusion list that can be integrated with any platform, giving operators across the province easy access to the database. Patrons can self-exclude for six-month or three-year periods.
“It’s going to be for things like research, it’s going to be things for training, education, and it’s going to be for treatment,” Nally said of the problem and responsible gambling funds. “Outpatient therapy is the best practice. So, we need that to be available to Albertans that do struggle with problematic gambling behaviors, because right now they’re struggling in silence. Our commitment is we will have intensive outpatient therapy for any Albertan struggling with problematic gambling behaviors, and it will be paid for by the operators, and that’s the 1 percent.”
