Regulators might have delayed Alberta sports betting into later in 2025, but a university is hoping to help educate the province on the growing industry.
The University of Alberta is now home to a gambling and gaming microcredential, with an aim to educate the province on the Alberta sports betting industry. The first session will be Nov. 12-15.
Fiona Nicoll developed the course through research she conducted with the Alberta Gaming Research Institute. Nicoll aims to address a set of questions laid out on the university’s website.
“I saw the need to bring this to as many people as possible because the transformations that are coming are unprecedented in Canada,” Nicoll told the Edmonton Journal. “And in this province, the shift from brick-and-mortar casinos to an iGaming model, where you can gamble at any time, anywhere, on your device with a good internet connection, is a radical shift, partly because it takes regulation out of the hands of the establishments. It downloads that responsibility onto every player to track their consumption.”
Alberta sports betting course
The gambling and gaming microcredential is a four-day intensive course and will be available online and on campus.
It costs $1,000 and includes a credential when finished.
“It’s aiming to prepare professionals who are in different fields, as well as graduate students, to understand and respond to this new gambling environment that’s just entered our province,” Nicoll told the Edmonton Journal. “Because the space has grown, more people are potentially engaged. Whether that’s in the addiction and treatment spaces or whether that’s in the regulation spaces. Whether that’s people who work with schoolchildren in K to 12 (particularly the senior years) or even journalists.”
Launch delayed into 2025
Alberta Minister Dave Nally confirmed at the Canadian Gaming Summit earlier this year that the province will open its online gambling industry to commercial operators. At the time, some in the industry believed it could get off the ground before 2025.
However, last month, a Nally spokesperson confirmed online gambling would not launch until later in 2025.
Still, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis continues to build its online offers — and became the jersey sponsor of the Edmonton Oilers. The AGLC’s Play Alberta app hit record figures as the Oilers made their Stanley Cup Final run this summer.
