The online gambling industry is constantly changing. It’s adapting to developments in other industries and it continues to introduce new policies, features and standards of its own. Ever since Ontario launched its regulated internet gambling market in 2022, there’s been talk about other provinces and territories following suit.
The biggest piece of news related to online gambling in Canada is that Alberta is planning on following in Ontario’s footsteps. The province doesn’t want to actively promote gambling over the internet; instead, its aim is to regulate it, earn revenue from it and better protect players in the process. If things go ahead, people in the province should be able to claim casino bonuses Canada and play games in a fully regulated environment.
Alberta’s Online Gambling Regulation Plans
The legislation for this is titled Bill 48: the iGaming Alberta Act and was tabled in late March. If it gains approval and is passed, a new organization called Alberta iGaming Corporation will be set up. It will determine and enforce a range of rules, measures and protections for gambling site operators to follow.
As well as this, the new regulator will work on safeguarding players and ensure that people who want to gamble online can do so safely. According to Alberta Minister Dale Nally, Alberta iGaming Corporation hasn’t yet finalized its rules and regulations, though it’s working on them.
Reasons for Setting Up Alberta iGaming Corporation
While protecting players is the key reason for Alberta setting up its new regulator, there’s also the matter of revenue. Right now, the province’s only regulated option for online gambling is the government-run Play Alberta. The revenue generated by this site is less than half of the province’s online gambling market.
If Alberta iGaming Corporation comes into existence, it will create a new revenue stream as gambling sites will need to pay it in order to legally operate. Less money will go to operators in other countries and more money will stay in Alberta. This new revenue will be used for a range of projects to help Albertans. It could go towards gambling addiction charities, for example, or education services that focus on the harms of gambling.
Can Alberta iGaming Corporation Be a Success?
The success of Alberta iGaming Corporation depends on gambling site operators signing up and agreeing to be regulated. If no companies want to side with the organization, it might as well not exist.
Having said that, there’s every reason why an iGaming operator would want to be part of a regulated system. Money is obviously a key reason as the Canadian market is quite lucrative and operators can earn significant revenue from offering their gambling services to Canadians. There’s also the matter of reputation.
What it boils down to is that companies in the online gambling industry want to look good. They don’t want to be associated with things such as problem gambling, dodgy activities or causing players harm. By working with a regulator, a company is proving to the industry that it’s on the right side of things. In other words, it’s all in favour of being regulated and following the regulator’s rules and guidelines to protect players.