Major League Baseball’s regular season starts tomorrow, but sports bettors in Alberta may want to wait before they fire some futures wagers on World Series winners or otherwise.
There’s a good chance those futures won’t survive the season, as online sportsbooks not yet regulated by the province settle their preexisting business before joining the new Alberta sports betting and online casino gambling market.
- Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission requires unregulated sportsbooks to settle or cancel all outstanding bets before joining the province’s regulated iGaming market.
- Futures wagers placed with non-Play Alberta operators could be voided during the transition, similar to what happened in Ontario.
- As Alberta prepares to launch a competitive market with major operators, bettors should expect some changes.
The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC), the regulator of the province’s coming competitive market for iGaming, published guidance last week about how "unregulated sites" will be able to "transition" into that new regulated market.
“Operators must ensure all outstanding bets are satisfied or cancelled prior to ceasing unregulated operations,” the ALGC notes.
That means your bets with anyone who isn’t Play Alberta could be voided, no matter how promising they may look. Got a good number on the Blue Jays to make it back to the World Series? Sorry, it might go up in smoke.
Don't shoot the messenger
It’s a similar situation to the one that unfolded in Ontario, which launched an iGaming market in 2022 that will be very similar to the one that opens in Alberta later this year.
In Ontario, the bulk of online gambling was happening with operators not regulated by the province, and the same is true now in Alberta. Ontario then created a path for so-called “grey” market operators to transition into a regulated market, which is what Alberta is doing now as well.
At some point, though, “grey” operators need to cut ties with their old business and become fully provincially regulated. So, in Ontario, there was a requirement for operators to settle any preexisting bets before they could launch in the new iGaming market. There were some different approaches in how that happened, but there was a lot of voiding.
Alberta is now proposing something similar for its competitive iGaming market, the exact launch date of which is TBD but could be at some point this spring.
When the market goes live, the plan is for Alberta to go from one provincially regulated iGaming platform, the AGLC’s Play Alberta (the AGLC will be both an operator and a regulator), to many. There could even be more than 50 provincially regulated apps and sites, including big-name private-sector brands such as bet365, DraftKings, and FanDuel.
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TBD-Day
The AGLC's release of "transition" guidance is another sign that the launch of the new regulated market is creeping closer.
"AGLC continues to work with its partners at Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction (SARTR) and the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) on the launch of the iGaming market in the province this spring," a spokesperson for the AGLC said in an email to Covers on Monday. "As an open, regulated market approaches, it was important to give iGaming operators adequate notice informing them of the transition period in Alberta."
All of the above also means the void-ening could be nigh in Alberta as well.
The AGLC has made it clear that all outstanding bets must be dealt with before an operator shuts down their "grey" site and joins the regulated market. The AGLC also wants operators to “cease any unregulated lottery scheme activities (i.e. taking bets)” by July 13 of this year, with some exceptions and leeway allowed, given the lack of a firm launch date at this point.
“In the event the market ‘go live’ date, as determined by the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC), occurs after July 13, 2026, all unregulated market activities must cease by the ‘go live’ date,” the AGLC notes.
So we've now got a lot more detail from Alberta on what will be required of the private-sector operators of online sportsbooks and casinos that are lining up to launch in the province's regulated iGaming market.https://t.co/WoURra1PqS @Covers
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) March 23, 2026
Before operators turn out the lights, their outstanding bets need to be paid out or cancelled, the regulator says.
This includes, the AGLC notes, “settling any open wagers,” “returning player account balances,” and “informing players of timelines and procedures for account closure.”
“This serves as a reminder that player account management must remain transparent, orderly, and compliant during the transition period,” the AGLC’s guidance states.
So, if you’re sitting on some juicy futures in Alberta and they’re not with Play Alberta, just prepare yourself. Change is coming.
