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When Alberta launches its regulated online gambling market on July 13, players in the province will have more options than ever before.
Dozens of operators have signalled interest in securing an Alberta iGaming license, with 35 having already paid the registration fees, according to Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC).
While an open market is an important extension of consumer choice, the competition between brands will be fascinating as each jockeys for position in what is projected to be a crowded field early on.
As the Alberta online casino and sports betting market develops, the question then becomes: how many operators will the province actually have room for?
The answer won’t be definitive, but there are clues both within and outside Alberta that can help frame what it can realistically support.
Ontario’s Market has Grown Into Multi-Billion Dollar Industry
It’s more of a reference point than an exact blueprint for Alberta, but Ontario’s robust iGaming market is where this voyage begins.
Since opening in April of 2022, the Ontario online casino and sports betting market has experienced noticeable handle (total wagers) and total gaming revenue growth year-over-year, per iGaming Ontario figures:
- Year one (April 4, 2022 – March 31, 2022): $35.6 billion in total wagers, $1.4 billion in total gaming revenue
- Year two (April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024): $63B in total wagers, $2.4B in total gaming revenue
- Year three (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025): $82.7B in total wagers, $3.2B in total gaming revenue
In total, that’s approximately $181.3 billion in total wagers and $7 billion in total gaming revenue across the first three fiscal years of Ontario’s regulated iGaming market.
This past April alone, the province accepted over $9.3 billion in total wagers from over 1.2 million player accounts.
Such lofty figures have shown Alberta, albeit with a much understood grain of salt, the vast economic powers that a regulated iGaming market possesses – even if it doesn’t play out 1:1.
Alberta’s Opportunity Will Be Significant, But Won’t Reach Ontario Levels
The glaring point that has yet to be mentioned in an Alberta-Ontario comparison is population size.
Ontario is home to more than 16 million people, while Alberta’s population sits just above five million.
Population alone doesn’t determine gambling activity, but the sheer difference in potential betting volume is a legitimate factor in projecting market size and long-term operator sustainability.
Alberta, mainly through Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally, has long highlighted the other side of the equation, citing the province’s business-friendly environment driven by lower corporate taxes and higher consumer spending power.
Todd McCully, head of sales at Prague-based oddsmaker Oddin-gg, recently acknowledged this in his bullish assessment of the province’s iGaming potential.
So, even if Alberta were to only generate a fraction of Ontario’s annual gaming revenue, say one-quarter to one-third, the province would still create a market worth hundreds of millions annually.
The difference is that a market like Ontario currently supports 44 operators and more than 75 gaming sites, each sharing an unequal part of the pie.
For the operators entering Alberta, the challenge then becomes carving out an adequate market share while competing for the same customers in a smaller pool.
The big brands, i.e., BetMGM, bet365, Caesars, FanDuel, DraftKings, etc., won’t have trouble rising to the top. Instead, it’s the depth of the market that stands to be tested.
Ontario Suggests Not Every Operator Can Survive
One of the clearest lessons from Ontario is that market growth does not guarantee success for every operator (see final line of previous section).
While not a jaw-dropping figure, a total of seven operators have exited Ontario since the market opened four years ago.
At the end of April, Casumo became the most recent operator to depart, joining a list that includes:
- Coolbet, the first operator to exit in April 2023
- Unibet in March 2024
- Fitzdares in March 2025
- Rootz Ltd. (operator of Wildz, Caxino, Wheelz, and Spinz) in October 2025
- Arisocrat Interactive (Betiton and MagicRed brands) in November 2025
- Rivalry, a Toronto-based e-sports brand, in February 2026
Despite the departures, Ontario’s operator base has certainly remained stable. This suggests that new opportunities are available, but latching onto a meaningful market share has become increasingly difficult as the market matures.
In Alberta’s case, the competition amongst operators will surely be intense, especially early on, as marketing and customer acquisition-related costs pile up.
But how difficult those hurdles prove to be will vary from operator to operator.
Specifics are Scarce, but Big Brands Hold the Early Advantage
Part of what makes projecting which brands will establish the strongest foothold an inexact science is that Ontario does not publicly disclose individual operator revenue. Alberta hasn’t indicated anywhere that it will, either.
While aggregate data is insightful, it doesn’t specify how the market is divided between operators. That makes relying on earnings reports, executive commentary, and third-party analysis the only real means for estimating a brand’s market share.
For example, in December of 2023, BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said the company held a 22% market share in Ontario. Later estimates from third-party analyst Eilers & Krejcik Gaming had the number closer to 20%, which was still tops in Ontario at the time.
Regardless of the exact figure, the point is that big-name brands with high visibility and marketing spend, as well as large existing customer bases, like BetMGM, perform very well.
The expectation will be no different in Alberta, where the battle for market share has effectively already begun.
Alberta May Experience Consolidation Faster than Ontario
With 35 operators already registered more than a month ahead of launch, Alberta has been successful in selling brands on its significant iGaming potential.
That’s a promising start, but as Ontario has shown, operators won’t hesitate to pack their bags if the margins aren’t there as the market develops.
The more immediate challenge in Alberta may simply be space. As dozens of operators enter simultaneously, the early phase of the market will likely be defined less by expansion and more by competition for visibility, acquisition, and retention.
Individual operators will also have to remit 20% of gross gaming revenue back to the province – the same tax rate as the Ontario model – making scale and efficient player acquisition even more important for smaller brands.
Once the initial flurry of odds- and promotion-heavy activity dries up, operators will then need to differentiate themselves in more unique ways to achieve long-term sustainability.
The result of all this could very well be a natural separation between a concentrated group of high-performing operators and a larger cluster competing for limited share of attention and spend.
That’s not an indictment of Alberta’s iGaming potential; it’s simply a reality in the regulated online gambling sphere.
Even amidst the possibility of swift consolidation, the province and its players still stand to gain from a more structured, competitive environment of private operators.
