Alberta is the next Canadian province looking to regulate its igaming sector, and it hopes to join its poker player pool with Ontario poker players, creating the second poker network in Canada.
In addition to joining up with Ontario, Alberta regulators are also looking at allowing its players to play in the international player pool, a decision that Ontario has been flirting with for some time.
The news comes from a recent interview Dale Nelly, Minister of Service and Red Tape Reduction in Alberta gave for Covers earlier this month. Nelly said: “We’re going to join Ontario in terms of liquidity and hopefully have similar, like-minded provinces follow suit.”
According to Nelly, who spoke at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Alberta will still take some time to regulate its igaming, with regulation likely to come in 2025 and the first operators including Alberta online poker rooms would launch in 2026.
Canada’s Second Online Poker Compact Looming
Should an igaming compact between Alberta and Ontario become a reality, it will be the second of its kind for Canada online poker players. The Canada Poker Network (CPN), which was launched in 2011, now includes provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, and Manitoba.
Players in all three provinces can gain access to a shared player pool through sites like Espace Jeux and PlayNow, which all run on a somewhat outdated IGT software platform.
Over in the US, the states of Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan have created the biggest igaming compact on the continent, the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), which currently covers some 25 million residents, a population similar to that of Ontario and Alberta combined.
This means that the two provinces could set up a very meaningful compact that would create a player pool akin to that of America’s biggest legal poker network. Should that become the case, other provinces would likely look to join, potentially growing the player pool and liquidity even further.
With Alberta looking to launch regulated online poker in the near future, it will be interesting to see if all of the poker sites currently running in Ontario, such as GGPoker ON, PokerStars ON, 888poker Ontario, BetMGM Poker Ontario, Bwin, and PartyPoker ON also launch in Alberta.
Alberta Very Interested in International Liquidity
This November, Ontario’s AG Doug Downey will be appearing in front of the province’s Court of Appeal. The Court will look to decide if international play runs against the federal Criminal Code and whether Canadian provinces could potentially share their online poker liquidity with that of other countries.
It is worth noting that Ontario’s operators actually shared their liquidity internationally until 2022, when they were granted licenses and ordered to create segregated player pools. Now, the operators could re-join the international player pool, which would rid players of all liquidity problems once and for all.
According to Nelly, Alberta is also closely looking at this case. Should it pass in Ontario, Alberta would probably follow suit and also allow its operators to share their liquidity internationally, which would be a major win for all poker players in Canada.
The ruling that comes from the Court of Appeal for Ontario may also be looked over by the Supreme Court of Canada, but a favourable decision would mean Canadian operators can accept players from other parts of the world, which would create many new opportunities.
The next year will be an interesting one for all poker players in Alberta, who currently don’t have any legal options to play online poker within their province.
