Calgary has a lot to offer its residents and any visitors to the city. Especially for those into their sports. Calgary is home to many sports teams, including the Calgary Flames, Cavalry FC, Calgary Stampeders and Calgary Surge. There is no shortage of sporting entertainment to be had, and with the FIFA World Cup coming to Canada in 2026, albeit staged in Vancouver and Toronto, there could yet be a greater influx of visitors arriving in Calgary in the summer of 2026.
With all the above-mentioned highlights, any person, whether local or stopping by, is set for mainstream sporting action. However, one form of entertainment that is starting to find a home in Calgary, Alberta is iGaming.
The idea of iGaming becoming a sport is a farfetched link to make, that we will admit. But in terms of popularity, it is certainly gaining more users with the rules around using offshore providers remaining relaxed. Cloudbet.com would be one of those platforms that people from Calgary find their way too, despite the fact it is licensed in Curaçao. And Curaçao is known as offering one of the safest and most responsible licenses in the online casino world, which is another reason why people in Calgary are happy to go “abroad” for their online casino action.
A greater number of countries are catching onto this trend and getting their regulations in order to match the licensing trailblazers such as Curaçao, Malta and Gibraltar. Alberta itself remains in limbo, not knowing whether to stick or twist with regards to fully regulating online gambling activity in the province and become the second province after Ontario to do so. Ontario acts as an example of what can be achieved and raked in a whopping CA$540m of revenue from online gambling alone. Food for thought perhaps.
A move to align themselves with Ontario would appease the decision makers in the high offices in Alberta and eliminate the grey area of offshore providers, but with full legality, there would certainly be more Alberta-licensed online casinos added to PlayAlberta.ca, which is currently flying that flag solo. This is in turn would significantly boost the revenue numbers for online casino and potentially bring them up to the amounts that sports teams bring in annually and prevent that money from leaving Canada.
Gambling has been legal in Alberta since 1975, so people are certainly aware of it. The potential is there and with a few key decisions made, the iGaming industry could quickly grow and rival that of sports in Calgary.