All About Alberta – New Online Casino Destinations

More and more gambling destinations are popping up all over the world and the next stop is Alberta, Canada. That’s because the Alberta Government is set to follow in the footsteps of Ontario and introduce a new bill that will pave the way for online casino play.

Bill 48

The new legislation set out in Bill 48 will allow privately owned companies to operate and offer gambling services to members of the province. The province is in the process of forming a new organisation called the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AIC) to oversee the roll out. They will also be responsible for overseeing the day to day activity within the industry too.

Alberta’s Minister of Service, Dale Nally, explained that the move was not aimed to create new gamblers, but to make the industry safer for those that do. He recognised that Alberta needed to take a new modern approach to gambling, rather than ignoring it, which is what had been done previously. If done right, gambling can provide entertainment to the state, while generating plenty of revenue in the process. We can potentially expect the first new online sites to go live early in 2026.

Ontario Paved the Way for More Gambling Destinations

It took Ontario less than a year after the Canadian parliament passed a bill to allow each province to govern their own gambling laws to launch online gambling. Fast forward three years and now it’s Alberta’s turn to do the same. Alberta has clearly seen how well Ontario has handled the transition and they too want to regulate the industry within their own province. But how does regulating help?

Advantages of Playing with a Regulated Operator

There are many benefits to playing with a regulated sportsbook or online casino. Here are a few of the main ones.

Guaranteed Fairness

Having an industry that’s regulated means that it can be monitored for fairness more closely. Third party auditing companies can test the games at an online casino for example to ensure they are using random number generators and the return to player percentages advertised are correct.

Safer Gambling Tools

By having an organisation to oversee and regulate the industry, they can ensure that all operators are promoting safer gambling and that they provide plenty of responsible gambling tools to their customers.

Report Issues

Of course, we all hope that we don’t experience any issues when gambling, however, they do arise. By having a regulated industry, it means they have proper reporting channels for customers. These can then be escalated if necessary.

2025: The Year for New Gambling Destinations

2025 appears to be a big year for the gambling industry. As well as Alberta, Thailand is also looking to legalise gambling in a move to crackdown on unlicensed gambling which has plagued the country for decades. In South America, Paraguay have changed their very unusual laws that monopolised the industry, opening the floodgates for new privately owned operators to operate. Brazil has also launched a new licensing system that is expected to help generate around £6 billion pounds in its first year or operation.

And beyond 2025, there is more positive progress being made around the world. In 2026 New Zealand is set to launch 15 new online casinos. These will be the first online operators to ever offer online casino play.