The Play Alberta logo will be emblazoned on the home jerseys of both provincial NHL teams in the upcoming season.

Less than two weeks after Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis (AGLC) announced that its online gaming platform would be the new jersey sponsor of the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames unveiled their own extended partnership with the regulated betting operator.

Under an extension to the existing deal between Play Alberta and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC), teams under the CSEC banner will have the Play Alberta insignia displayed on their home jerseys. AGLC’s responsible gambling program, GameSense, will be worn on the teams’ home helmets.

The agreement makes Play Alberta the exclusive sports betting and online gaming partner of the Flames, as well as the Canadian Football League (CFL)’s Calgary Stampeders, the American Hockey League (AHL)’s Calgary Wranglers and the Calgary Roughnecks box lacrosse team.

As well as jersey sponsorship and GameSense-focused initiatives, the partnership will see Play Alberta and CSEC will develop unique collaborations and in-arena giveaways during the season, according to a press release.

AGLC and the Flames said the deal upholds AGLC’s commitment to responsible play and in the release, both AGLC CEO Kandice Machado and CSEC President and CEO Robert Hayes focused on the GameSense elements of the partnership.

It will be the first time that the Flames have worn an advert on the front of their jerseys, although the Play Alberta logo was previously on the teams’ home helmets during the 2023-24 season. The Flames have also worn the Telus logo on their road helmets for the past three seasons and previously wore the Scotiabank logo on both their home and road helmets during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.

Both the Oilers and Flames jersey advertising deals are multi-year agreements, AGLC confirmed to Canadian Gaming Business.

Play Alberta ramping up sports presence

After a summer in which the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final resulted in Play Alberta’s biggest uptick in betting activity in its four years of existence, the increased visibility it will get from the new Flames and Oilers deals is part of what appears to be a conscious drive by AGLC to increase Play Alberta’s ties to Alberta sport.

As well as ramping up its partnerships with both of the province’s NHL teams, it also became the first online gambling platform ever to offer odds on certain events at the Calgary Stampede as part of a new exclusive multi-year deal that made it the exclusive iGaming and sports betting partner of the Stampede.

Playalberta.ca’s Stampede offerings this year included odds on the rodeo and chuckwagon events for the first time. Play Alberta branding was visible across the Stampede site, including at the chuckwagon finish line and pit signs along the rodeo’s exterior wall.

Meanwhile, AGLC is expected to launch a new Play Alberta app any week now. It will be the platform’s first mobile app and is expected to offer sports betting only at first but will ultimately expand to include all of the website’s gaming verticals, AGLC VP of Gaming Dan Keene told Canadian Gaming Business in June.

Playalberta.ca has more than 313,000 registered users at the last count. Estimates suggest that playalberta.ca has captured around 45% of the province’s online gaming market. More than half of the overall market share is thought to be held by unregulated sites.

Through moves such as the prominent multi-year agreements with arguably Alberta’s two most high-profile sports teams, AGLC is moving to consolidate Play Alberta’s presence and boost its visibility in the province’s sports scene. The lottery corporation is doing so in the knowledge that Alberta is set to soon welcome commercial sports betting operators to compete with the lottery corporation’s offerings.