What’s the big question for people following what’s happening in Alberta, now that the government there has committed to roll out an Ontario-style, open, regulated, igaming market?
When will the market launch?
According to the Hon. Dale Nally, Minister of Service and Red Tape Reduction, Province of Alberta, consultation with the province’s First Nations on a new regulatory regime has now been completed. Next up is consultation with land-based casinos. Following that will be consultation with racetrack operators.
“I can’t give you an exact date, but I can tell you that people are going to be surprised by how fast we get this done … and roll this out,” said Nally.
Another question is how the market will look. What will the tax rate be (Ontario is at 20 percent)? What will be the impact on First Nations in Alberta? How will they handle sports betting advertising? What’s the market potential and the plan to deal with the gray market?
As Nally told CDC Gaming, the Alberta gaming market isn’t identical to the Ontario market, which went live in April 2022.
“We have a younger population,” he said. “That’s because of our energy industry, which tends to attract younger people to the province. We also have higher incomes, and we have a low cost of living, with low taxes. All of that means that we have higher disposable incomes in Alberta than we do in the rest of the provinces. And it’s a demographic that loves their sports.”
Nally points to the 50/50 draw the Edmonton Oilers promoted during their Stanley Cup run last spring, a jackpot that topped $16 million, the largest 50/50 in Alberta history for a hockey team.
Responsible gambling is also a big focus for the government now, as it builds things out.
In Ontario, creating a safe environment for gamblers was a pillar of the regulatory regime. Operators regulated in Ontario are required to successfully achieve and maintain responsible-gambling accreditation through the Responsible Gambling Council’s RG Check program to ensure a high standard of RG programming. Operators must run problem-gambling prevention and responsible-gambling campaigns with a goal of balancing promotional advertising with RG marketing. They must participate in a future, centralized, self-exclusion program to assist players in taking a break from playing on regulated igaming sites in Ontario. And they must share data on players (anonymously) with iGaming Ontario for the purpose of advancing RG research.
Nally says there has already been advance discussions with the Responsible Gambling Council in Alberta.
“As we are doing that engagement with many of the stakeholders, it continues to inform our decision as we move forward,” he said. “So I can’t say conclusively that we’ve landed in one spot, but here’s what I can tell you: The most important pillar that we will have in the launch of our igaming strategy will be responsible gaming. We have a fiduciary responsibility to all Albertans to have a safe, responsible environment for them to gamble, and that is going to be the first and foremost priority of our government as we move forward.”
The Oilers are hugely popular. So are the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampeders on the CFL front. With a younger market, with lots of disposable income, will the responsible-gambling focus need to be structured differently than Ontario?
“It’s been made clear to us that we need to invest properly in responsible gaming,” Nally said. “It’s good business practice to have a safe, responsible place to make wagers. You don’t want to have a Wild West and we have that right now. I’ve said to my team that if we launch igaming and the headline in the Edmonton Journal or the Calgary Herald is ‘Alberta government brings online gaming to Alberta,’ we will have failed. But if the headline in those papers is “Alberta government makes online gaming more responsible,” we will have succeeded. There aren’t the parameters that come with responsible gaming right now. So it is an important pillar for us to put that responsible gaming front and center and to keep Albertans safe. We are taking this seriously.”
