Licensed and regulated online gambling comes to Alberta, Canada

At midnight Alberta time today, July 13th, (2 am ET), Alberta went live with its open online gambling market. Patterned after Ontario, which is the only other province in Canada with a regulated open iGaming market, Alberta has approved 50 operators of which 22 offer sports betting. Many of the smaller sportsbooks and casinos do not currently have an Alberta gambling license, but Dale Nally, the Minister of Service and Red Tape Reduction in the province said in May they had over 70 applications in the pipeline, meaning that many operators are not yet on the approved list but will be moving forward. The government owned lottery and iGaming site Play Alberta will also has a license, and like Proline+ and OLG.ca in Ontario, the government site will compete with commercial operators.

Revenues & Taxes

Similarly to Ontario, Alberta is charging a tax on Gross Gaming Profits (GGP), of 20% for operators, but the province is also adding on a 3% surtax, with 2% going to aboriginal groups and 1% going to support problem gambling programs. The province already announced a centralized self exclusion program, so no doubt something like BetGuard, that is currently in place in Ontario, will be implemented in Alberta also. What other measures will be used to address problem gambling is unknown. The province justifies the 2% to aboriginal groups, noting it will help offset potential revenue losses for first nation casinos and also help the native groups be more self supporting. Unlike Ontario, which does not have first nation owned casinos (Mohegan Sun operates Fallsview and some aboriginal groups get money for allowing commercial casinos on their lands but they are not aboriginal casinos), Alberta has several land-based casinos that are owned and operated on first nation lands and none of those casinos will get an online license as they wouldn’t be competitive. So this 2% will hopefully more than offset any losses.

Laws

The minimum age to gamble online in Alberta is 18 which is one year younger than Ontario and the province has instilled strict rules on marketing and promotions ensuring they are not aimed at problem gamblers or minors. As is the case in Ontario, operators  will not be allowed to use sports celebrities that minors can identify with to promote the websites. The province is also discussing possible rules that will restrict advertising during telecasts. Some Ontario politicians have introduced this measure as well, noting that a whistle-to-whistle ban, (i.e. no gambling advertising during live broadcasts) has been very successful in the UK and Australia in reducing problem gambling.

Alberta has said they hope to bring in $1 billion in revenue in the first year and to increase the channelization rate (i.e. Albertans gambling with only regulated websites), to around 90%, which is the projected figure for Ontario this year. Until now all betting was done with grey market websites or underground bookies which was the main reason Alberta decided to proceed with an open market.

Read insights from Hartley Henderson every week here at OSGA and check out Hartley's RUMOR MILL!