After blowing by an original Alberta sports betting launch estimate, progress is moving forward.
Alberta lawmakers advanced the iGaming Alberta Act through a second reading Wednesday. Minister Dale Nally’s proposal lacks major Alberta sports betting details, which will likely be ironed out in the next step: the Committee of the Whole.
The committee will likely add amendments that help flesh out what the Alberta online gambling market will look like. It would then go to a third reading, where it could garner extra debate.
Alberta sports betting’s slow slog
Nally initially hoped the market would launch by late 2024. He confirmed the plan was to follow the Ontario market’s lead at the Canadian Gaming Summit last year.
The launch has met delays, and Nally introduced Bill 48 this spring. He has regularly cited Ontario’s framework as a model to follow after its open market launched in April 2022. Multiple operators have lauded the Ontario regulatory framework.
Canadian Gaming Association President Paul Burns told attendees at a conference this spring that Alberta operators would likely launch in early 2026.
Bullish Canadian projections
Since single-event Canada sports betting was legalized in 2021, only Ontario has opened up to commercial operators. Elsewhere, provinces offer sports betting through the provincial lotteries.
Last year, JMP Securities estimated Alberta’s online gambling market could surpass $700 million annually.
Multiple companies began expressing interest in the market during earnings calls last year. Executives cited aspects like the youngest adult population with the highest per-capita GDP and the highest per-capita spending on gambling in Canada.
Capturing the illegal market
Nally estimated earlier this year that the province’s lottery offering, Play Alberta, controls less than half of the legalized market.
The legalization, he said, is not to make gambling more accessible.
“The reality is that online gambling is alive and well in this province,” Nally said, per the Canadian Press. “Let’s suppose this legislation doesn’t pass; that won’t stop online gambling from continuing to grow.”
