In 2025, gambling participation in Canada is steadily increasing due to factors like regulatory changes and technological shifts.
In 2025, gambling participation in Canada is steadily increasing due to factors like regulatory changes and technological shifts. However, provinces like Alberta are at a crossroads when it comes to gambling activities, especially in relation to online casino activities. With only 10% of gamblers in Alberta opting for Play Alberta, which is the provinces only regulated online gambling platform, let’s explore potential regulatory shifts in this area and their impact.
In Canada, gambling is generally illegal unless it is managed by a provincial government authorized by the province. This means each province has the power to run lotteries, casinos and online gambling platforms or to license private operators under strict regulation. Provinces like British Columbia and Quebec operate major land-based casinos while smaller provinces have regional facilities or charitable gaming. In terms of online gambling, it is currently allowed in most provinces. However, some smaller provinces have limited offerings pushing Canadians to access offshore or unlicensed sites due to restricted options.
In Alberta, gambling was heavily restricted until the mid-20th century with social gambling games like bingo being some of earliest legal forms. The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission was created in 1996 to regulate all gaming, liquor and cannabis activities in the province. Here, the legal gambling age in Alberta is 18 years old for most forms of gambling including casinos and lottery games. It's common to find casinos in Alberta in major cities such as Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer where people can gather to play casino games and enjoy live entertainment. In 2020, online gambling arrived in Alberta with the launch of Play Alberta which changed the landscape of gaming.
Play Alberta is a government-run online gambling platform with a range of casino games, sports betting and lottery offerings. Unlike other offshore sites, Play Alberta has a limited selection of games with few features. However, it offers bonuses as well as secure and regulated payment methods, ensuring a safe and reliable gambling experience for Albertans. Up until now, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC)-run Play Alberta was the only regulated online gambling website in Alberta. However, with Alberta's new iGaming legislation on the horizon, residents may soon have access to a variety of licensed online casinos, giving them the chance to choose the best ones in Alberta without relying solely on PlayAlberta or offshore sites.
As Alberta's current iGaming market is a single-operator monopoly with Play Alberta, no private companies can legally operate online casinos or sportsbooks yet. While we might assume that people would gravitate towards Play Alberta, many Albertans have turned to offshore or grey market sites. This is because they offer a better catalogue of games with more advanced features and dynamic bonuses. In contrast, Ontario is a multi-operator iGaming market, allowing several licensed private companies to offer online casinos and sportsbooks under provincial regulation. As a result, Ontario’s iGaming sector recorded approximately CAD $3.2 billion in revenue during its third year, with over CAD $642 million in tax revenue for the province. If Alberta's laws change to allow multiple licensed operators, the province could see a similar surge in legal online gambling participation.
In the past few years, there have been attempts to try to regulate all online gambling in Alberta into proper government oversight. For example, Bill 48 was passed in 2025, establishing the Alberta iGaming Corporation, introducing licensing for private operators, enforcing age checks, self-exclusion tools and declaring some parts into effect by Order in Council. Furthermore, with the growing popularity of online gambling and the expansion of the Canadian online casino market, players now have plenty of trustworthy sites to choose from. This trend could soon extend to Alberta as well, with proposed regulatory changes paving the way for multiple licensed operators.
Online poker is also set to grow in Alberta which marks a change as Play Alberta currently doesn't offer peer-to-peer poker. This new law could allow licensed operators to launch as early as 2026 which could let Alberta join shared poker networks with other provinces or even countries, creating bigger tournaments and more games. This could put Alberta on the same level as other provinces such as Ontario which already offer large-scale online poker.
Ultimately, Play Alberta might have been the province’s first properly regulated online gambling platform, but upcoming legislation could transform Alberta's market into a more competitive environment with greater game variety and better experiences. In turn, this could inspire more Albertans to use legal, regulated platforms rather than turning to offshore or grey market sites.
