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If there was a major talking point through the first week of operation for Alberta’s regulated iGaming market, it was just how many of the pre-approved sites weren’t ready for the July 13 launch day.
Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis indicated that 36 operators were pre-approved ahead of July 13, when the province became the second in Canada (after Ontario) to launch a regulated, legal iGaming market. Because some of those operators had multiple apps in their portfolios, there was a potential to have more than 50 new working iGaming sites available for legal betting in Alberta.
But, in the end, only 22 sites made it for launch day. And some of the big hitters are still in hold mode.
The holdup isn’t red tape for its own sake — it’s Alberta’s regulator holding Alberta online casinos and sportsbooks to strict compliance standards on everything from 24/7 dispute support to a province-wide self-exclusion database, and not every major brand had its systems ready in time.
Which Major Operators Missed Launch Day
Here are examples of some of the heavy hitters who weren’t ready for July 13:
PointsBet still has not launched its Alberta site. Users from Alberta are still greeted with a pre-registration page.
If an Albertan tries to log in to Bet99, they will get a message that the app “is not available in your region.”
Betway has a confusing welcome page. Once it detects you’re from Alberta, it tells you to go to betway.ca. But the thing is, you’re already on betway.ca. And then, this prompt appears: “If you live in Ontario and already have an account on betway.com, please click here and log in to transfer your account.”
Betano, a major partner of the FIFA World Cup (you may recall the touch-line ads), only has its Ontario site up.
888 is still only accepting Ontario-verified signups.
The Regulator’s Response
Tracey Stephen, the spokesperson for the Alberta iGaming Corporation, said her organization is still working with many operators to make sure they’re compliant with the province’s rules and regulations before launching.
“Operators are working diligently to meet all required criteria established by AiGC,” said Stephen. “We continue to engage with operators and provide guidance and support as they progress through the registration and operational requirements process.”
As part of the new market, the AIGC introduced a new contact line for both operators and players. They can use it to ask questions about the rules, file dispute claims if they weren’t resolved by the operators, or report game malfunctions.
Stephen said the lines have not been overwhelmed.
“Since launch, AiGC has received several inquiries, which is expected with the introduction of a new regulated market. Most of these inquiries have focused on clarifying aspects of the market, while others have related to operator-specific processes and have been referred appropriately. Overall, the nature and volume of inquiries received to date indicate a positive transition into Alberta’s regulated iGaming market.”
What’s Actually Holding Operators Back
Paul Liberman, the cofounder of DraftKings, said one of the reasons his site was ready for July 13 is that DK already had much of the technology to be Alberta-compliant in place,
“They were definitely strict,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy process.”
Operators must offer support 24/7 in case of disputes about wagers, withdrawals or payouts. They must all tie in to the province’s central self-exclusion database, and offer direction on their sites on how to access it.
There are strict rules on promotion – and the stickiest being that no cartoon characters be used, as they can be seen as targeting minors. Many of the sites use cartoon-like characters in their logos or promotion, and many slot games also have characters that could be considered cartoon-like.
