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Weekly Alberta online casino news roundup: Around CAD$76 million expected from industry
A high-ranking official projects strong growth from Alberta online casinos, some of which have opened pre-registration ahead of the July 13 launch date.
In less than a week's time, the first online casinos in Alberta expect to launch. Yet even without operators live in the province, news continues to ramp up surrounding the industry, including a projection of how online casinos will perform in their first year as well as platforms opening the door for users to pre-register.
Nally: Alberta online casinos could generate CAD$390 million in first year
Anticipation has long been building for regulated online gambling in Alberta, which will join Ontario as the lone provinces in Canada to feature open-market, competitive iGaming.
With just a few days separating us from the first live Alberta online casinos, Dale Nally has offered some insight into what officials might expect from those operators in the short term.
According to Service Alberta Minister Nally, and as shared with the Edmonton Journal, online casinos in Alberta are projected to generate some $76 million in proceeds for the province in their first year of operation.
That cut comes from a percentage of overall gross gaming revenue, and after 2% of the total goes toward First Nations and 1% for social responsibility initiatives. With what's left over, the Alberta government receives 20% of revenue.Â
All of that is to say that, based on the $76 million projection, Alberta online casinos expect to combine for $390 million in gross gaming revenue.
To put that into perspective, real money online casino Canada operators in Ontario, with 47 sites, compared with a registered 49 platforms in Alberta, totaled just over $4 billion in 2025 revenue that translated to around $807 million for the Ontario government.
Pre-registration opens for Alberta online casinos
As they prepare to launch on or after July 13, some notable brands have allowed Albertans to start creating accounts and be ready to start playing after the go-live date.
Two of the biggest online casinos include BetMGM Casino and Penn Entertainment's Hollywood Casino. Both platforms already exist in Ontario, with BetMGM launching in 2022, followed three years later by Hollywood.
With pre-registrations, Alberta customers can complete the sign-up process a week ahead of online casinos launching, thereby giving them a bit of a jumpstart to begin enjoying casino games online once these operators receive the green light to go live.
It's worth noting that users who pre-register obviously cannot begin gameplay yet, nor can they deposit money into their accounts. However, they can receive launch notifications and immediately log into their account to start playing.
Also know that customers must be at least 18 years old and otherwise eligible to create an account with Alberta online casinos, and they must be physically located in the province to play casino games online.
