May 31, 2024
On the 16th of this month, the ministry of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction saw its Bill 16 receive Royal Assent. Among many amendments and changes to law within this Bill, it clarified that the Government of Alberta, as well as Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), has the authority to conduct and manage gaming activities in the province. This move lays the groundwork for Alberta and the AGLC to follow in the footsteps of Ontario and the AGCO, which recently defended their "conduct and manage" iGaming model in the Ontario superior court.
Given the realities of governing in Canada, there will need to be consultation with Alberta First Nations stakeholders, as related to gaming. Make no mistake however, Alberta is not California. The reality is that the AGLC can now essentially copy, look to join the Ontario system, or create its own iGaming market. Unlike California, where First Nations "tribes" hold the power over gaming decisions in that jurisdiction, consultation here is about the Province of Alberta being respectful and seeing how existing First Nations gaming businesses might be aided by the potential new scheme. The consultation should not devolve into an argument or protest from First Nations over fears that their bricks and mortar gaming ventures would be "under threat" from a legal Alberta iGaming market.
A huge array of offshore, "grey market" operators have been serving Alberta since the Internet began. This includes dozens of now-legal Ontario iGaming brands have been serving Alberta from the "grey market" for many of those years, since before most, if not all First Nations casinos in Alberta actually opened their doors. Not only have these online brands been serving Albertans for many years, Alberta residents have been seeing many of the same brands advertise their iGaming Ontario operations on national sporting broadcasts since that market opened in April 2022.
In other words, what could possibly be the negative effect on First Nations gaming stakeholders when the impending legal Alberta gaming market is simply looking to replace a robust and long-established "grey market" in the province, which for the last two years has been bolstered by ads originating out of the legal Ontario market?
In essence, there will be no additional competition created by a market of legal Alberta betting sites and online casinos in this regard. Albertans that currently have "grey market" online betting, poker and casino accounts, will shift toward becoming legal ones, if those brands gain licenses from the AGLC. Some "grey market" brands that do not seek licenses will stop serving Alberta residents. Other now "grey market" brands will not seek licenses, yet continue to serve Albertans and become deemed as "black market" operators.
This development is really all just a shifting of labels. The underlying activity has been ongoing for decades, which is why any vocal protest from First Nations gaming stakeholders in Alberta about a new legal iGaming market can be deemed as misguided, at best.
If anything, the development of an Alberta iGaming market should be welcomed by bricks and mortar gaming operators in the province. Those with strong brands could look to add their own online operations to support their bricks and mortar experience in the same way that Fallsview Casino in Ontario added an online casino and sportsbook to buttress their land-based gaming experience for customers.
When news of the consultation process emerges, rather than have a word of protest against this development, which will make hundreds of thousands of Albertans safer through regulation and protections, while repatriating significant "grey market" iGaming revenues to the province, it would be laudable if First Nations stakeholders simply applaud the move and look to argue for their own share of the revenues on the properties they run, or for a slice of the province's impending iGaming revenues.
Who would argue against a tax or revenue share exemption for online brands run by First Nations? Who would argue against Alberta First Nations receiving some portion of the overall iGaming scheme's profits? Not us. Both seem totally plausible and reasonable for Alberta to consider as part of the consultation process.
What we do not want to see or hear are false arguments about how a legal iGaming market in Alberta would "threaten" the existence of First Nations' land-based gaming ventures. Any such protests would be disingenuous and/or rooted in falsehoods.
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