Alberta's future prepare for online gambling might be extremely black and white, with little room for the shades of "grey" that some operators are presently using to take bets in the Western Canadian province.

- Alberta released draft rules for its upcoming iGaming market that need operators to stop all uncontrolled sports wagering activity.

- The requirements set stringent requirements for operators, consisting of gamer age and location checks, self-exclusion tools, and anti-money laundering procedures.

- Unlike Ontario, Alberta prepares to clearly prohibit grey market activity from the outset to rapidly move betting onto provincially managed platforms.

The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) released an iGaming "publication" on Jan. 13 that revealed the regulator published "standards and requirements" that will use to operators planning to participate in the province's competitive market for online betting.

That market has yet to launch, however the publication of the guidelines and the recent start of the registration period for operators reveal the province is dealing with it.

Registration will be one of the 2 crucial actions for potential iGaming operators in Alberta, which plans to permit multiple private-sector operators to provide online sports wagering and Alberta online casinos. The other is signing a contract with a new entity, the Alberta iGaming Corporation, additional outlining an operator's obligations.

Included in the initial draft of guidelines are requirements for players to be 18 years or older, physically situated in Alberta, and able to self-exclude themselves from all sites in the province. There is much, a lot more also, including anti-money laundering and suspicious wagering-related standards.

As reported by @GamingNewsCA this morning, registration is now open for sports betting and iCasino operators seeking to launch in Alberta's brand-new iGaming market. In short, registration is one of two key steps that operators need to take before they can introduce in AB's iGaming scheme. pic.twitter.com/I5WealzkmR

The first batch of rules also recommends there will be restricted patience paid for to "grey market" operators, which is where Albertans have been doing the bulk of their online gambling.

"Registered Operators and signed up Goods or Services Suppliers should stop all uncontrolled video gaming activities in Alberta's iGaming market if, to carry out those activities in Alberta's managed online lottery scheme, those activities would otherwise need registration under the iGaming Alberta Act or Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act," the requirements state.

The same batch of guidelines states that "registered Operators and registered Goods or Services Suppliers need to not get in into any contracts or plans with any unregistered person who is offering any products or services that would otherwise require registration in Alberta."

In other words, the standards for the brand-new Alberta sports wagering market suggest operators may need to make a swifter shift into the controlled market than they performed in Ontario, which is the example Alberta is following.

That might also suggest Albertans using those websites could see futures wagers voided or other action taken by their normal sportsbook operator as they work to abide by the province's iGaming requirements.

No lollygagging

Alberta's de facto iGaming minister, Dale Nally, had currently stated a shorter transition period might be possible. However, speaking with Covers a week after the release of the standards, Nally also stated his province isn't about to "impede" the grey market.

Nally, the Minister for Service Alberta and Bureaucracy Reduction, said there will be a "runway" for grey- or black-market operators to shift into the managed market. However, those operators will likewise need to show they are making a "genuine" effort to make the switch.

"We're going to welcome them, we're going to deal with them, however we need to see that they are sincere about entering our regulated area," Nally said. "A date will come when we've said we have actually provided you enough time to come on board, and if you have not come on board by then, then we're going to start using whatever tools at our disposal and obstructions for the black market."

There could be more than a few business to which Alberta's "uncontrolled" iGaming requirement may apply. The bulk of online betting in Alberta is occurring on websites that are regulated offshore or outside the province, not by the province itself. That's one major reason the Alberta federal government is trying to reform how online gaming is done in the province, to direct that grey-market activity onto provincially managed sites.

So, the key to the success of the brand-new Alberta sports betting market will be transitioning grey operators into the provincially managed market. And an essential part of that shift will be the requirement for operators to stop any "uncontrolled" activity.

This is what Ontario carried out in the fall of 2022. The province is the first and just in Canada hence far to launch a competitive iGaming market that permits several private-sector operators to participate. And, like in Alberta, the bulk of online gambling in Ontario before the launch of its competitive iGaming market was with grey-market operators.

The large bulk of online gaming in Ontario now occurs with provincially regulated operators, consisting of several previously grey operators that transitioned into the province's brand-new, regulated market.

Let's get all set to regulate

However, Ontario provided operators around seven months before it updated its policies to consist of a hard deadline for them to abandon their grey- market operations or have those activities held versus them if they attempted to sign up with the regulated market.

This upset some operators that had actually gone live in Ontario's regulated market right away, as they were forced to abide by the province's guidelines and revenue-sharing requirements while others delayed their involvement and continued to take bets from Ontarians.

So, once again, Alberta's guidelines might indicate a tighter window for operators to transition into the province's regulated market. Instead of changing its requirements months later on to state no more uncontrolled activity, Alberta is poised to include the requirement at the outset of its regulated market.

The unregulated activity-related paragraphs are simply two of lots of in the 85 pages of rules and requirements published by the AGLC. The firm will be the regulator of the competitive iGaming market in addition to remaining an operator of Play Alberta, the province's only authorized iGaming site.