Alberta vs Ontario online gambling: how Alberta's open iGaming market differs

Alberta’s regulated iGaming market is the system, open since July 13, 2026, under which private companies run online casinos and sportsbooks in Alberta under contract with a Crown corporation. It is not a market in which registration with the regulator alone permits a private site: section 49.1 of Alberta’s Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act also requires the operator to run the site on behalf of, or under a contract with, the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) or Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC). Alberta’s market and Ontario’s rest on the same Criminal Code exemption but differ in revenue split and in the position of the Crown site.

Alberta’s market launched on July 13, 2026 with 22 registered sites. AiGC oversees Alberta’s market and holds the commercial agreements with operators, and AGLC is the regulator. The minimum age for online betting in Alberta is 18.

The “conduct and manage” exemption in the Criminal Code

Section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code allows a lottery scheme that a province conducts and manages. In Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke v. iGaming Ontario, 2024 ONSC 2726, the Ontario Superior Court, ruling on Ontario’s scheme, read that to mean a province may engage private entities in an operational capacity, may not delegate conduct and management to them, and must keep enough control to remain the lottery’s “operating mind”.

Crown control in Ontario’s operating agreements and Alberta’s GLCA s.49.1

In Ontario, a private operator needs AGCO registration and a signed operating agreement with iGaming Ontario (iGO); OLG.ca is the one exception to the agreement requirement. Under those agreements as described in the 2024 judgment, operators accept bets as iGO’s agents, hold player funds in a separate account, remit all collected funds to iGO and are paid 80% of gross gaming revenue.

In Alberta, Bill 48, passed in spring 2025, enacted the iGaming Alberta Act and amended the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act (GLCA). Section 2 of the iGaming Alberta Act establishes AiGC with a mandate, subject to the regulations, to develop, undertake, organize, conduct and manage online lottery schemes on behalf of the Government of Alberta and to ensure they comply with the Criminal Code and the GLCA. Except as the Act or regulations provide, GLCA s.49.1(1) prohibits providing or operating an iGaming site unless the person is registered under s.49.2 and operates the site on behalf of, or under a contract with, AiGC or AGLC. In Alberta, registration and that relationship with a Crown body are the statutory conditions for operating a site legally.

The AiGC operator agreement, which a Blakes bulletin noted had not been published in final form before the July 2026 launch, holds the terms that would show where control sits in Alberta. Ontario’s agreements were described in the 2024 judgment; before Alberta’s launch, Alberta’s could not be measured against the operating-mind test the same way.

Registration and the operator roster in Alberta

Since July 13, 2026, entry into Alberta’s market has required both AGLC registration and a signed commercial agreement with AiGC. As of September 13, 2026, Alberta charges iGaming operators a one-time $50,000 application fee and $150,000 a year; goods or services suppliers pay no application fee and $15,000 a year as platform providers or $3,000 in the “other” category.

As of September 13, 2026, the Alberta iGaming Corporation’s registered-sites directory listed 31 site entries, including BetMGM and DraftKings, with Bet365, FanDuel and theScore each listed as separate casino and sportsbook entries. As of September 13, 2026, BetMGM Canada Inc., FanDuel Canada ULC, Rush Street Interactive Canada ULC and Score Media & Gaming Inc. held AGLC iGaming operator registrations expiring July 13, 2027. The same entities appear in iGaming Ontario’s directory, which listed 49 operators and 84 websites as of September 1, 2026.

Where Alberta’s iGaming revenue goes

Alberta takes 3% of gross gaming revenue (GGR) off the top: 2% for First Nations initiatives and 1% for social responsibility programs. After the 3% is allocated, Alberta’s operators receive 80% of net iGaming revenue and the Alberta government keeps 20%.

Take $100 million of GGR and treat net revenue as what remains after the 3%. First Nations funding receives $2 million, social responsibility programs $1 million, operators $77.6 million and the government $19.4 million. Under Ontario’s agreements as described in 2024, the same $100 million pays operators $80 million. Alberta’s 80% and the 80% in Ontario’s agreements as described in 2024 are measured on different bases.

In its 2024 ruling on Ontario’s scheme, the Ontario Superior Court found profit-sharing not a particularly useful indicator of who conducts and manages under s.207(1)(a), which, unlike the s.207(1)(b) rule for charitable lotteries, does not ask where proceeds end up.

The First Nations share: Alberta’s 2% and Ontario’s 1.7%

In Alberta, the 2% First Nations share and the 1% social responsibility share are taken from gross gaming revenue before the government’s 20% and the operators’ 80% of net iGaming revenue are calculated. Service Alberta minister Dale Nally said in April 2026 that the 2% share is meant to mitigate casino revenue losses. CBC reported in April 2026 that First Nations in Ontario are allocated 1.7% of gambling revenues, and that online gambling was brought under that share in fiscal 2024-25.

As reported in April 2026, First Nations leaders in Alberta and Ontario objected to a lack of consultation. Treaty 8 First Nations Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi said in April 2026 that he had not been consulted on how Alberta’s funds would be allocated, and that allocation without consultation may be unfair and “paternalistic”. Service Alberta minister Dale Nally said in April 2026 that the province would not consider raising the percentage if First Nations found it too little: “The black market … is alive and well.” In Ontario, the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation was reported in April 2026 to be taking the province to court over revenue sharing and a lack of consultation before iGaming launched.

Play Alberta, OLG.ca and the 2026 sale power

As of September 13, 2026, Play Alberta was registered with AGLC as an iGaming operator, and AiGC’s stated position was that it would continue as Alberta’s government-run platform, competing alongside regulated private operators. In Ontario, OLG.ca is the one exception to the requirement that a registered operator sign an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Ontario’s April 2022 opening took OLG from the only legal online gaming provider in Ontario to one of many.

As of September 13, 2026, Play Alberta’s long-term position is open. Section 34.2 of Alberta’s Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act, added by SA 2026 c 12, lets AGLC sell and disclose personal information if the Lieutenant Governor in Council approves; the section does not name Play Alberta. CBC reported in May 2026 that the amendment passed as Bill 31 and could let AGLC sell Play Alberta together with its customers’ personal information; Alberta’s privacy commissioner called that a “concerning precedent”, and the minister said AGLC had no immediate plans to sell.

Player rules in Alberta and Ontario

The minimum age is 18 in Alberta and 19 in Ontario. Both provinces tie play to location: Alberta’s regulations require players to be physically located in Alberta to log in or place bets with regulated operators, and Ontario’s regulated sites are for players physically located in Ontario. As of September 13, 2026, all player liquidity pools and peer-to-peer games on Alberta-regulated sites must be ring-fenced to players physically located in Alberta. As of September 13, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada had scheduled the appeal hearing on Ontario’s pooled-liquidity reference, Atlantic Lottery Corporation v. Attorney General of Ontario (docket 42141), for October 7, 2026.

Alberta’s 70% unregulated-market estimate and AiGC’s channelization targets

Before the July 2026 launch, unregulated operators captured about 70% of Alberta’s iGaming market, by a provincial estimate based on survey data. As of September 13, 2026, AiGC’s targets are 70% channelization of the illegal iGaming market into the regulated market after year one and 75% by year two.

British Columbia and Saskatchewan outside the open-market model

A May 2026 Business in Vancouver column described BCLC’s PlayNow as the only legal online sports betting source in British Columbia and reported that the province had shown no interest in allowing private online sports betting; B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey said PlayNow’s platform would be replaced in the fall of 2026 to compete better. In 2026 budget estimates, Bailey said the B.C. government estimates BCLC holds 51% of the province’s online gambling market.

On August 31, 2026, Saskatchewan announced that its Gaming Framework Agreement with FSIN had been amended to extend SIGA’s exclusivity as the province’s online gaming provider to September 2029.