Alberta lawmakers are on track to approve an open market for iGaming and sports betting, which would open the doors for industry powerhouses like Caesars, DraftKings and FanDuel to enter.
The More the Merrier
Government-run PlayAlberta is the only game in town, or more correctly, the province, but its monopoly is in danger as Bill 48, the iGaming Alberta Act, passed its second reading last week. The measure is sponsored by Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally, with a third reading by the Committee of the Whole looming large.
The bill reflects many of the components of the online gaming bill that was passed and ultimately launched in Ontario in April 2022. At that time, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation had a legal monopoly on iGaming and mobile sports betting but opened its markets to private industry with the goal to generate more activity and eventually more revenue for the province.
Should the measure pass, it would flush out many of the grey market online sportsbooks and casinos that operate in the province without regulatory approval, guidelines or taxes on revenues. This is one of the primary purposes of the bill, as it has been estimated that over half of the online gambling in Ontario is through private gaming companies and not with the government-sanctioned PlayAlberta.
“There are a significant number of Albertans who are potentially being preyed upon by grey market sites or illicit sites,” quipped Minister Nally during debate on his bill earlier this month. “This legislation proposes to change that.”
Conservatives Key to Passage
The 45th Canadian Federal Election will be held on April 28th after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party stepped down in January. The conventional wisdom at the time was that the Conservative Party candidate, Pierre Poilievre, would become the nation’s next prime minister.
However, the political winds shifted after Trudeau’s advisor, Mark Carney, won the party’s election to replace Trudeau until the general election. As of this writing, Carney is now the favorite to win the election, but the Conservative Party is a virtual lock to maintain its seats in Alberta’s parliament.
The latter is good news for Bill 48, but should it be approved, the launch date remains a mystery. Nally stated last October at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas that getting the licenses awarded and the platforms launched in 2025 is doable.
“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, or 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.”
