Alberta Government Expects $76M iGaming Payday in First Year, Nally Says

Alberta’s newly regulated iGaming market is projected to generate CAD $76 million in its first year alone, Minister Dale Nally revealed to the Edmonton Journal.

The new market goes live on July 13. According to Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis, the provincial regulator, as of June 26, 47 operators had successfully completed the registration process and paid their initial fees to AGLC.

However, these operators still need to finish the dual-step process with Alberta iGaming Corporation to be ready for July 13.

Revenue Target Takes Shape

Under agreed protocols in Alberta, operators pay a one-time CAD $50,000 application fee, and a CAD $150,000 annual registration fee.

Alberta is adopting a revenue split that differs significantly from Ontario’s model, where the provincial government simply takes a clean 20% cut of net iGaming revenue.

Instead, Alberta calculates its take directly from Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR). First, 2% of GGR is allocated to First Nations, followed by a 1% allocation for social responsibility initiatives. From the remaining revenue pool, operators retain 80%, while the Alberta government claims the final 20%.

How Alberta Gets Paid

Based on that formula, Nally is projecting CAD $390 million in first-year GGR. To put that into perspective, Ontario’s mature market generated CAD $4.04 billion in revenue in 2025, yielding approximately CAD $807 million for the provincial government across its 47 licensed operators.

Notably, that total excludes iGaming revenue generated separately by the government-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

Despite Alberta’s smaller initial scale, the province’s market potential has already secured commitments from industry heavy hitters like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Betway, BetRivers, and Bet365.

Major Operators Ready

In Alberta, Play Alberta is the government-owned platform that will compete with private operators as of July 13.

“I like to put a few dollars on the Edmonton Oilers,” said Nally, at the SBC Summit Canada in Toronto in May.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing a little bit of gambling. But if it becomes problematic, we’re going to have support systems for people. We want to have those protections in place. 

“Player safety is going to be at the forefront of everything that we do. That’s important to us in Alberta. We want gambling to be a safe pastime for people,” Nally added.