The Alberta government could make the province the second in Canada to bring in a licensed, regulated commercial online casino industry to what it says will better protect players and increase revenue. Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally wants to provide online gamblers with more choice by launching a commercial online casino market, according to a Friday press release. Casinos.com said Nally confirmed his office has been meeting with regulators and operators from across Canada and the world since June to try to expand the market by the end of 2025. “We have engaged with a lot of online operators, and we have heard from them loud and clear that they would not come to Alberta as long as the Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis (AGLC) is the regulator,” said Nally. While commercial online casino operators were open to coming to Alberta, Nally pointed out they did not want to give AGLC too many oversight powers because it would be able to examine their data while competing against them with Play Alberta. To show off commitment to expanding online gambling, Nally helped to pass Bill 16 in April to clarify ministerial authority over gaming and could see Alberta form a new regulator for it. Nally said at the Canadian Gaming Summit in June his office wanted to copy Ontario’s model for a commercial online casino market. “As far as I am concerned, it built the roadmap,” he said. “We’ll massage it a little bit, but it’s been inspired by the experience in Ontario, and it’s going to be an open and free market.” Ontario’s online casino and sports gambling industry reported a 34% year-over-year increase in total first quarter revenue to more than $524.5 million. The Ontario government passed a law in 2021 to legalize commercial online casinos and sports gambling. The first services became active in 2022, with people able to play 80 online casinos managed by 50 operators. The Senate said in May it would be reopening committee hearings to examine the potential harms of online gambling two years after legalizing bookmaking. READ MORE: Senate reconsiders legislation to reexamine online gamblingSupporters for the repeal of a 1892 ban on single event sports betting had voiced concerns over the direction of the legislation.“It is clear where this is going,” said a supporter.
