Alberta threatens crackdown on unlicensed gambling sites
Alberta is preparing to turn its attention to online casinos and sportsbooks that continue taking bets without joining the province’s new regulated gambling market.
Gaming Minister Dale Nally says the provincial government will explore “every avenue possible” to shut down unlicensed operators still targeting Alberta players.
“We have levers at our disposal that may not have been tried in the past,” Nally told the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas this week.
It marks an important change in direction for Canada’s newest competitive iGaming market.
Alberta spent the first months surrounding its launch encouraging established online gambling companies to enter the regulated system, but now the focus is increasingly moving towards those that don’t.
The competitive market opened on July 13, 2026, ending the previous situation where government-owned Play Alberta was the province’s only regulated online gambling platform.
Private operators can now legally offer online casino games and sports betting after completing Alberta’s registration and regulatory process.
The Alberta iGaming Corporation manages the market alongside Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis. The AiGC describes approved operators as having been reviewed for security, integrity and responsible-gambling standards.
A large group of major gambling companies has already made the switch to the regulated market, with 22 operators available on opening day, while others including Betway (Betway.ca review) have joined since.
Betway’s arrival is particularly notable because parent company Super Group previously operated in Alberta before the province introduced its regulated private market. Its transition demonstrates the model Alberta hopes other previously grey-market operators will follow.
But Nally’s comments indicate the government isn’t prepared to rely indefinitely on voluntary migration. The obvious question is how Alberta intends to deal with operators based outside Canada that refuse to obtain local approval.
Nally did not provide a complete list of the enforcement mechanisms being considered, but indicated the province believes it has options that have not historically been widely used against offshore gambling sites.
That could make Alberta an important test case for the Canadian market. Ontario followed a similar regulatory transition when it opened its competitive iGaming system in 2022, allowing many previously grey-market operators to move into the regulated sector before eventually tightening its stance towards those that remained outside it.
Despite this, many offshore gambling sites still target Canadians based in Ontario, with measures including IP blocking and payment disruptions potentially ways to curb the practice.
