How Alberta's New iGaming Market Helps Fund Public Services
With the new iGaming market going live on July 13th, Alberta will benefit from more than just a safer and more regulated online gambling environment.
Under the framework established by Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), private operators will return 20% of their gross gaming revenue to the province. This creates a new source of public revenue from online gambling activity that was already taking place in Alberta.
Before the regulated market launched, offshore betting sites could accept Alberta players without contributing a share of their revenue to the province. Alberta had little ability to tax those operators or redirect any of the money they generated toward provincial priorities.
The new framework allows Alberta to retain a portion of that spending and reinvest it in services that benefit residents, including responsible gambling programs, Indigenous partnerships, and public programs.
Under Alberta’s new revenue sharing framework, the province will receive 20% of the net gaming revenue generated by betting sites and online casinos approved by the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC). An additional 3% of gross gaming revenue will be directed toward Indigenous relations and social responsibility initiatives, with 2% allocated to Indigenous partnerships and 1% supporting responsible gambling programs.
Alberta’s 20% share will first be used to cover the AiGC’s operating costs. The remaining proceeds will then be returned to the province to support public programs and services such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.
It is still too early to determine how much revenue Alberta’s regulated market will generate or how much it will cost the AiGC to manage. Ontario provides the closest available comparison as the only other Canadian province with a private iGaming market.
Ontario’s market generated approximately $2.9 billion in gaming revenue during the 2024–25 fiscal year. Applying Alberta’s 20% revenue share to that amount would produce approximately $580 million. However, Alberta has a much smaller population and its iGaming market may develop differently, meaning this figure should be viewed as an illustration rather than a realistic expectation of it's potential revenue.
Operating expenses reported by iGaming Ontario, the AiGC equivalent in Ontario, totaled approximately $19.4 million during the same fiscal year. If the AiGC operated at a similar cost and Alberta generated a $580 million provincial share, those expenses would represent approximately 3.3% of that amount.
At Ontario’s revenue level, the additional 3% contribution would equal approximately $87 million for Indigenous relations and social-responsibility initiatives. Again, Alberta’s actual contribution will depend on the size of its market and the amount of revenue generated by licensed operators.
