Alberta’s gray-market window shuts with 48 sites in

• Alberta’s roster held 48 registered iGaming sites as of October 13.
• Stake and BET99 joined the approved roster ahead of the deadline.
• Minister Dale Nally says cease-and-desist orders and payment processor action are under consideration.

Alberta’s three-month transition window for operators that were active in the province without approval closed on October 13, with 48 registered iGaming sites on the approved roster that day.

The count covers individual site entries, including separate casino and sportsbook listings. Operators outside it must stop taking bets from Albertans.

Late arrivals make cut

The roster has more than doubled since July 13, when 22 registered sites went live as the market opened. The provincial government reported 31 regulated sites as of September 14.

The final weeks brought a run of former gray-market names. Stake had set an October 12 launch, and it was added to the approved roster ahead of the deadline along with BET99.

The approved list includes DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, bet365, Betway and theScore. It also has a long tail of casino brands such as Jackpot City, Spin Casino and PlayOJO, which appear on the AiGC’s registered sites directory.

Short of forecast

The total falls short of the government’s own forecast. Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, said in late September that he expected licensed sites to rise from roughly 35 to about 60 by the deadline.

That leaves a large gap to close. The government estimated that about 70% of iGaming activity in Alberta took place with operators not regulated in the province before launch.

Not every offshore brand chose to stay. Estonia-headquartered Coolbet said before the July launch that it was pulling out of Alberta because of the province’s regulations.

Levers on the table

Nally used a Canada-focused panel at G2E in Las Vegas on September 29 to outline the province’s options once the window closed. He named cease-and-desist letters and pressure on payment processors as “absolutely two levers” Alberta will explore.

He also pointed to talks with Apple and Google, and to social media platforms, over unlicensed gambling apps and advertising. He declined to give details of any specific measures.

Dale Nally said:

“We have levers at our disposal that may not have been tried in the past, and I’m not going to broadcast what they are because I don’t want to tell the bad guys what we’re going to start doing on October 14th.”

Whack-a-mole risk

He admitted that offshore operators can resurface under new names or IP addresses, and called enforcement a “bit of whack-a-mole”.

Advertising already favors registered brands. In May, Google updated its gambling ad policy so that AGLC-licensed operators can run geo-restricted brand awareness campaigns in Alberta.

The door to the market stays open, but on a clean slate. The Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) has said that operators going live after October 13 must cease all unregulated activity in the province until their regulated launch.

Ontario, only faster

Alberta is the second Canadian province after Ontario to open its online market to private operators. Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) oversees registration and regulation. The AiGC manages the commercial framework, including operating agreements and the player-facing directory of registered sites.

The transition was far shorter. Ontario launched in April 2022 and gave gray-market operators until October 31 that year to switch over.

Alberta set July 13 as its cutoff. AGLC allowed extensions of up to three months, granted case by case, and only where an operator could show a path to compliance that was out of reach before launch.

AGLC’s transition guidance also covers player funds. Operators leaving the unregulated market had to settle or cancel outstanding wagers and return player account balances.

No logo, no-go

Player protection was built in from the start. Alberta’s self-exclusion program, previously limited to land-based venues, extends to registered online sites. Nally has said that 1% of gross gaming revenue goes to treatment, prevention and education.

The AiGC is steering players toward its logo as the mark of a registered site. Its public message reads “No logo? It’s a no-go!”

Ontario offers a guide to the long game. Canadian Gaming Association president Paul Burns has pointed in an exclusive interview with iGaming Republic to the province’s channelization gains as regulated brands draw players away from the black market.

Alberta now has to show the same pull. Operators applying after October 13 must cease all unregulated Alberta activity before their regulated launch.