Williams's research specializes in online and problem gambling, and he said Alberta's facing their issue because, compared to other provinces, it was late to join the legalized online gambling party, which meant many consumers turned to offshore third-party websites.

"If we could shut the black market and online gambling down, we would, but the fact is that the online gambling industry has been alive and well in Canada for many years," said Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally in an interview with the Western Standard in March.

Among the concerns is a significant amount of revenue leaving Alberta via these sites.

To help remedy this issue, the UCP introduced new iGaming legislation in May 2025 to legalize third-party online gambling websites in Alberta on July 11, similar to the one established in Ontario in 2022, under which 20% of a company's revenue will go to the Government of Alberta.

"The economic consideration is true that Ontario, by introducing these 40 or 50 operators, has now captured most of the online gambling activity in that province," Williams said.

The situation is not as rosy as it may seem, though, according to Williams.

"The problem is, because the province only keeps 20% of that revenue, and because 85% of these companies are multinationals with headquarters outside of Ontario, a good portion of this over $2.2 billion a year in online gambling revenue likely leaves the country, so it's an economic loss for the province of Ontario," Williams said.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis reported $234.9 million in sales for Play Alberta in 2024, but they also projected that this represents only about 30% of Alberta's iGaming market.

Budget 2026 projected $75 million in revenue from AiGC in the 2026/2027 fiscal year, with that figure ballooning to $109 million per year by 2029.

"There's no doubt that the provincial government's revenues will go up, but if it follows the pattern of Ontario, there's also no doubt there'll be losses through the Alberta economy," Williams said.

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