The day after Alberta introduced legislation to open up a commercial online gaming and betting market, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) unveiled a revamp of its Play Alberta platform.

Until Alberta opens its doors to private-sector operators, Play Alberta’s website and app is the only regulated online gambling platform in the province. It is doing all it can to stay ahead of the game and appeal to provincial gamblers.

The platform will continue under an updated logo and colour scheme, which AGLC said in a release better reflects an identity that represents Alberta. The crown corporation has also souped up its app by adding casino gaming, live dealer, e-instant games and lottery offerings.

AGLC launched the first ever Play Alberta app in October. The mobile platform was sportsbook-only at first, but AGLC VP of Gaming Dan Keene told Canadian Gaming Business last summer that it would add more online gaming verticals in the first half of 2025.

“Play Alberta is still fairly young in its lifecycle and we’ve always had eyes on developing an app because it’s critical to the delivery of the product,” Keene told CGB last June.

“Expanding the features available to them through the app continues to optimize their playing experience,” Keene said in a statement about the upgrades on Thursday. “I’m excited to see the brand evolve from where we started five years ago to what it has become today, celebrating a unique Alberta platform, with an identity that celebrates our province.”

Competition is likely coming

The timing of AGLC’s announcement was notable, as it came less than 24 hours after Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally introduced the anticipated Bill 48 on Wednesday.

The iGaming Alberta Act proposes to create the new Alberta iGaming Corporation to oversee a private-sector online gambling market, which would see commercial operators compete with Play Alberta. The act would “designate AGLC as the regulator to ensure market integrity and compliance,” while the new corporation would be the conduct-and-manage entity.

Nally and AGLC have both expressed numerous times that they know Play Alberta currently has a great deal of competition in the province from unregulated sites and apps that do not have to yield any proportion of their revenue to the province.

AGLC’s full-year report for FY24 showed that PlayAlberta.ca generated $235 million in net sales in 2023-24, an increase of more than $42 million from the previous year. The crown corporation estimated last year that Play Alberta holds around 45% of Alberta’s total online gambling market; data provided to CGB by market research firm H2 Gambling Capital suggests it is more like 28% of non-lottery gaming.

AGLC’s Play Alberta currently utilizes the GameSense program, licensed from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), and operates its own self-exclusion program. Bill 48 also proposes numerous consumer safeguards, including the creation of a centralized self-exclusion system to be shared by all commercial operators who enter Alberta’s online gaming market.

Bill 48 must still pass in the legislature and be enacted. Industry stakeholders and observers have suggested that it is unlikely that a regulated commercial market will launch before 2026. In the meantime, the government maintains that Play Alberta is the only licensed platform on which people in the province can play online casino games or bet on sports.