Alberta’s future plans for online gambling are very black and white, with little room for the shades of “grey” that some operators are currently using to take bets in the Western Canadian province.
- Alberta released draft rules for its upcoming iGaming market that require operators to stop all unregulated sports betting activity.
- The standards set strict requirements for operators, including player age and location checks, self-exclusion tools, and anti-money laundering measures.
- Unlike Ontario, Alberta plans to explicitly ban gray market activity from the outset to quickly move betting onto provincially regulated platforms.
The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) issued an iGaming "bulletin" Tuesday that announced the regulator published "standards and requirements" that will apply to operators planning to participate in the province’s competitive market for online gambling.
That market has yet to launch, but the publication of the rules and the recent start of the registration period for operators show the province is working on it.
Registration will be one of the two key steps for would-be iGaming operators in Alberta, which plans to permit multiple private-sector operators to offer online sports betting and internet casino gambling. The other is signing a contract with a new entity, the Alberta iGaming Corporation, further outlining an operator’s responsibilities.
Included in the first draft of rules are requirements for players to be 18 years or older, physically located in Alberta, and able to self-exclude themselves from all sites in the province. There is much, much more as well, including anti-money laundering and suspicious wagering-related standards.
As reported by @GamingNewsCA this morning, registration is now open for sports betting and iCasino operators looking to launch in Alberta's new iGaming market. In short, registration is one of two key steps that operators must take before they can launch in AB's iGaming scheme. pic.twitter.com/I5WealzkmR
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) January 14, 2026
The first batch of rules also suggests there will be little patience afforded to “grey market” operators, which is where Albertans have been doing the bulk of their online gambling.
“Registered Operators and registered Goods or Services Suppliers must cease all unregulated gaming activities in Alberta’s iGaming market if, to carry out those activities in Alberta’s regulated online lottery scheme, those activities would otherwise require registration under the iGaming Alberta Act or Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act,” the standards say.
The same batch of rules states that “registered Operators and registered Goods or Services Suppliers must not enter into any agreements or arrangements with any unregistered person who is providing any goods or services that would otherwise require registration in Alberta.”
In short, the standards for the new Alberta sports betting market suggest operators will have to make a much swifter transition into the regulated market than they did in Ontario, which is the example Alberta is following.
That could mean Albertans using those sites could see futures wagers voided or other action taken by their usual sportsbook operator as they work to comply with the province’s iGaming standards.
No lollygagging
Alberta’s de facto iGaming minister, Dale Nally, had already said a shorter transition period could be possible. The draft regulations suggest the same.
And there could be more than a few companies to which this requirement may apply. The bulk of online gambling in Alberta is happening on websites that are regulated offshore or outside the province, not by the province itself. That’s one major reason why the Alberta government is trying to reform how online gambling is done in the province, to channel that gray-market activity onto provincially regulated sites.
So, the key to the success of the new Alberta sports betting market will be transitioning gray operators into the provincially regulated market. And a crucial part of that transition will be the requirement for operators to cease any “unregulated” activity.
This is what Ontario did in the fall of 2022. The province is the first and only in Canada thus far to launch a competitive iGaming market that allows multiple private-sector operators to participate. And, like in Alberta, the bulk of online gambling in Ontario before the launch of its competitive iGaming market was with gray-market operators.
The vast majority of online gambling in Ontario now happens with provincially regulated operators, including several previously gray operators that transitioned into the province’s new, regulated market.
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Let's get ready to regulate
However, Ontario gave operators around seven months before it updated its regulations to include a hard deadline for them to abandon their gray- market operations or have those activities held against them if they tried to join the regulated market.
This irked some operators that had gone live in Ontario’s regulated market immediately, as they were forced to abide by the province’s rules and revenue-sharing requirements while others postponed their participation and continued to take bets from Ontarians.
So, again, Alberta’s rules suggest a tighter window for operators to transition into the province’s regulated market. Instead of amending its standards months later to say no more unregulated activity, Alberta is poised to include the requirement at the outset of its regulated market.
The unregulated activity-related paragraphs are just two of many in the 85 pages of rules and requirements published by the AGLC. The agency will be the regulator of the competitive iGaming market in addition to remaining an operator of Play Alberta, the province’s only authorized iGaming site.
“In keeping with the Government of Alberta's red tape reduction initiatives, these policies provide industry stakeholders with flexibility and efficiency in running their operations,” Tuesday’s bulletin said. “AGLC is committed to reviewing policies to meet the needs of stakeholders, while maintaining an effective regulatory environment.”
