Online Gambling In Alberta Not Coming Soon

Despite the best efforts of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC), this Canadian province will not follow in the footsteps of its predecessors anytime soon. Alberta’s Finance Minister has indefinitely put on hold any progress in the implementation of a legalized and regulated online gambling regime.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci broke this news in a year-end interview given to CBC News. He said with finality, “It’s not a policy issue that I’m fully briefed on, want to bring forward or consider bringing forward at this time.” He added that he needs to look into the positive and negative implications of online gambling Albertans before he can deal with that policy issue. As of now, he believes that the negatives outweigh the positives in Alberta. In the CBC News interview, Ceci confirmed that he was aware that Albertans were already playing on off shore Internet casinos. He said that an online gambling market was there for those who want to engage in the activity.

The AGLC has been disappointed at this announcement. The commission has been trying to bring legal online gambling to the province since last February. It had prepared a detailed report and submitted it to the minister, highlighting the dire need to create another revenue stream. It had projected additional revenue of about CA$100 million a year. The AGLC had even invited bids from companies wanting to set up online gambling infrastructure. The ongoing fall in oil prices is further eroding Alberta’s revenue and this makes it all the more important to augment revenues through online gambling. The AGLC had also highlighted the benefits pouring into other Canadian provinces because of regulated online gambling. British Columbia was the first Canadian province to legalize Internet gambling. The province generated CA$109.1 million in the 2014-2015 fiscal year, which was a massive jump from the previous year’s CA$18.1 million. Ontario is another province that has been profiting from online gambling through the Ontario Lottery Corporation’s online site. This has projected an additional CA$375 million in profits over the next five years.

Ceci explained that he was informed of the financial angle and fully understood it. But he did not think that the financial benefits made up for the public risks attached to the legalization of online gambling in Alberta. He concluded that the status of legalized online gambling in Alberta remains still under review. One way of looking at the situation is “under review” is better than a “no”.

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