There’s about to be a lot more people losing money on Edmonton Oilers parlays.
Driving the news: Alberta will open up its online gambling market to private sportsbooks and casinos on July 13, according to a government letter viewed by Canadian Gaming Business. It will become just the second Canadian province to do so, following in the footsteps of Ontario, which opened up its online gambling market in 2022.
Similar to Ontario, the Alberta government will take a 20% cut of the revenue that operators like DraftKings and FanDuel bring in from bettors in the province.
In every other province and territory, private sportsbooks and casinos are banned, with online gambling limited to government-run lottery platforms.
Why it matters: Ontario has brought in $2 billion in revenue since opening its doors to online sportsbooks and casinos, but it's also seen a 300% spike in young men calling its mental health hotline for gambling issues. Alberta will now face the same challenge of balancing the financial windfall of open betting with the issues it's proven to spark.
Studies have found that in areas where online betting is legal, average credit scores dropped by 1% and the likelihood of filing for bankruptcy increased by 25% to 30% after four years of legalization.
Bottom line: Alberta’s government estimates that 70% of all online betting right now is happening on unregulated sites. Given that people seem to be gambling on these platforms anyway, the promise of funnelling that grey market revenue into the government's coffers is hard to ignore.—LA
