Lawmakers across the Alberta legislature are continuing to express their concerns as discussions continue to progress on a framework for Alberta iGaming.
As Alberta continues to work towards the passage of Bill 48, which would create the Alberta iGaming Corporation to oversee a private-sector market, various lawmakers are noting a lack of detail provided in a proposal, which has led to pushback.
The bill would aim to create a setup similar to that which exists in the Ontario marketplace, with Alberta currently only allowing for the operation of the provincially owned Play Alberta Platform serving as the province's lone online casino and sportsbook.
Instead, regulators would open the doors to other potential books and iGaming operators, which the United Conservative Party (UCP) says already existed, but are not under government oversight, a major reason for the Bill’s presentation in the first place.
“More than half of players in the province exclusively place bets on unregulated sites,” Minister Dave Nally, who sponsors Bill 48, said. “It’s quite disconcerting to know that there are Albertans gambling on sites where they face a higher risk of developing gambling-related harms … A significant number of Albertans are potentially being preyed upon by gray market sites or illicit sites. This legislation proposes to change that.”
Nally assured that the effort was not related to creating new gamblers in the province or looking to make a quick buck for the provincial government by collecting more tax dollars, instead reiterating it was primarily a safety measure.
“We know gambling will never be safe, but there are ways to make it safer and more responsible,” he added. “That’s what we aim to do.”
That stance appears to exist throughout the party, with UCP member of the legislative assembly Nolan Dyck noting that the government was responsible for providing a market that was not predatory nor lacking safeguards.
“Many unregulated iGaming companies already operate in Alberta, regardless of whether we regulate them or not, and those illicit iGaming companies are not paying taxes here or putting money back into our economy,” Dyck said. “… We want to be able to regulate the good operators and allow them to play in a space that is legal, while also making sure that they follow our social responsibility markers there.”
Alberta’s opposition party, the New Democratic Party, meanwhile, has expressed concerns with the Bill, particularly with the omission of certain key pieces of information.
“Given past history, I’m not sure that we can trust that an appropriate level of consultation before regulations are released happens …” NDP MP Peggy Wright said, expressing her concerns. “It’s a blank cheque and that can indeed lead to some measure of risk, if not danger.”
