Being second isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- Alberta plans to launch a competitive regulated online gambling market later this year and could use Ontario’s experience to avoid early mistakes.
- New rules require operators to stop all unregulated activity immediately and may limit gray-market transition periods.
- Alberta will launch with a centralized self-exclusion system and clear refund rules to prevent bettors from exploiting loopholes.
Alberta, for example, plans to be the second province in Canada to launch a regulated, competitive market for online gambling. Multiple private-sector operators are expected to participate, including bet365, DraftKings, and FanDuel, among (hopefully many) others.
When it launches, the new iGaming market will be a big shift for Alberta. The province currently has a single entity that’s authorized to offer online sports betting and internet casino gambling, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission’s (AGLC) Play Alberta.
Alberta, though, will have the benefit of learning lessons from Canada’s most populous province, Ontario.
Here's an example of a lesson learned in Ontario that Alberta will use for its forthcoming iGaming market.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) January 19, 2026
In ON, there were concerns people were self-excluding to avoid losses, and so the regs were updated. AB's iGaming regulator is going to have that fix in place at launch. pic.twitter.com/Bn1FXBPiOA
Ontario in April 2022 became the first and only province in Canada to have launched a similar regulatory framework as the one Alberta proposes to roll out. There are now around 50 iGaming operators that are authorized to offer Ontario sports betting, iCasino, and poker, among other things.
But Ontario had to learn some lessons the hard way and only after its iGaming market had gone live. Alberta will be able to incorporate those lessons and address those issues before launching.
Don't make the same mistakes I did
Does that mean Alberta’s market will launch faster than Ontario’s? Not necessarily. When exactly the new Alberta sports betting market will go live is unknown; the safe bet is at some point later this year.
Still, it’s clear Alberta is already benefiting from Ontario's growing pains.
The first version of the AGLC’s "Standards and Requirements for Internet Gaming” were published last week. The rules will apply to the private-sector operators that will launch in the province’s forthcoming iGaming market, and some of them suggest Alberta saw things happen in Ontario that it doesn’t want repeated.
Some of the standards in Alberta are identical or basically identical to those that were established in Ontario. For example, “bets on minor league sports in Canada, including the Canadian Hockey League (CHL)," will be prohibited at Alberta's regulated iGaming sites.
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Knock it off
However, one up-front requirement in Alberta, which wasn’t there at the start in Ontario, is that all regulated operators “must cease all unregulated gaming activities.”
While what this will look like in practice is a bit fuzzy currently, what it suggests is that there will be a much tighter window for any operator doing business in Alberta’s gray market to transition into the new, regulated one.
In Ontario, there was a months-long period after the regulated market launch where operators that had yet to become regulated were able to keep operating without it being held against them by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Alberta, then, could hear fewer concerns about “grey” operators taking their time before joining the regulated market. Converting those operators and their players into the regulated market is one of the biggest reasons for the initiative.
“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,” another section of the requirements adds.
Something else Alberta plans to have on Day 1 of its new iGaming market is a “centralized” self-exclusion system. This offers a way for a bettor to ban themselves from all iGaming sites in the province simultaneously.
Ontario is still working toward the launch of its centralized self-exclusion tool. The hope is it will launch soon. Alberta, though, wants it available up front.
One section of the AGLC's iGaming standards is dedicated to the centralized self-exclusion program. All registered operators, that section says, “must not permit a person who is enrolled in AGLC’s self-exclusion program to enter or remain in their iGaming site.”
In other words, if you ban yourself at one regulated site, you won’t be able to log on and start wagering at another.
Operators will also have to promote the self-exclusion program and “allow players to easily access” the tool through their site.
Another self-exclusion-related provision, and one that looks like it draws on Ontario’s learning experiences, has to do with what happens when players hit the button.
The main thing bettors need to know is that the province continues to move toward the launch of a competitive iGaming market, wherein private-sector operators (e.g. bet365) can come under provincial regulation and taxation. Currently, AB only has one authorized site: Play…
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) January 14, 2026
Once someone self-excludes, Alberta's standards say, “the wager is brought to an end.”
“Operators must refund a player's wager if the player enrolls in a self-exclusion program prior to the commencement of an event or series of events on which the outcome of the wager is determined,” they add.
However, Alberta’s iGaming regulator says operators don’t have to let someone self-exclude to potentially avoid a loss.
“Operators are not required to refund a player's wager if the player enrolls in a self-exclusion program after the commencement of an event or series of events on which the outcome of the wager is determined,” the standards say.
In Ontario, regulators became aware of concerns about online gamblers using the self-exclusion button to dodge losses. Moreover, someone could use self-exclusion to void a losing bet and also win by betting the other side using another operator's site.
The AGCO ultimately updated its standards to clarify the rules around the voiding and refunding of bets for self-excluded players. Ontario’s self-exclusion protocols are now the same as what Alberta is proposing to have in place when its iGaming market launches.
