Given its longstanding brick-and-mortar casino presence and multi-brand iGaming approach to Ontario, it always seemed a safe bet that Caesars Entertainment would pursue the online gaming opportunity in Alberta.
The Las Vegas gaming giant announced on Monday that it has applied for an operator’s license and has opened pre-registration in the province, which is slated to launch its regulated commercial iGaming market in mid-2026.
Caesars is at least the 15th online gaming operator that has either already applied or intends to apply for registration in Alberta’s market, based on information made available publicly or directly to Canadian Gaming Business.
Caesars targets Alberta brand hat-trick
Caesars intends to launch all three of its online gaming brands when the Alberta market officially opens: Caesars Palace Online Casino, Caesars Sportsbook & Casino and Horseshoe Online Casino. Alberta residents can now sign up on any or all of those sites and get more information about the launch plans. In line with the company’s policy, only users aged 21 or older will be able to register.
Caesars will expect the three-pronged approach, which it also uses in four U.S. states (Michigan,New Jersey,Pennsylvania and West Virginia) and Ontario, to offer it the deepest digital footprint possible in the Alberta market. Caesars Palace and Horseshoe will offer a wide selection of slots, table games and live dealer content, while Caesars Sportsbook & Casino will host both iCasino and online sports betting.
“Opening pre‑registration is an important first step that allows players to prepare for launch while we finalize our plans to bring our full trifecta of platforms online in Alberta,” said Caesars Digital President Eric Hession. “We welcome the province’s continued progress toward a regulated online market and appreciate the Alberta iGaming Corporation’s work to support operators through this process.”
Dual Alberta market next stop for growing Caesars Digital
As it does in Ontario, Caesars will offer online casino in Alberta through all three of its online brands, as well as online sports betting via Caesars Sportsbook & Casino. It will be the sixth North American jurisdiction in which the historic land-based gaming giant offers both casino gaming and sports betting via mobile app.
The confirmation of the company’s Alberta plans also comes a few weeks after Hession and other executives reported a record year for Caesars Digital in North America on a full-year earnings call in February.
The company’s online gaming arm posted record annual revenue of nearly C$2bn, a 21% jump from 2024’s total, while its adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to more than C$300m.
Hession noted that online casino was a huge driver of that digital growth, despite Caesars only being able to offer the iCasino vertical in four states and Ontario as of today. As well as Alberta, the company may get another opportunity to deepen that footprint further, given that Maine, where Caesars already offers online sports betting, recently legalized online casino gaming.
More Canadian brick-and-mortar opportunities?
As well as its iGaming presence in Ontario, Caesars has run the Caesars Windsor casino on the border with Detroit for almost 30 years. Last May, it was selected by OLG to continue for another 20 years, reportedly beating out competing bids from Bally’s and Mohegan, and Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) officially announced the new long-term agreement began on March 3.
For now, the Windsor casino and its accompanying full-service retail Caesars Sportsbook remain the operator’s only branded land-based resort in Canada. There may be opportunities for that to change, given that Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) will allow the province’s existing casinos, racing entertainment centres and professional sports teams to partner with licensed iGaming operators to run on-site retail sportsbooks.
Asked on the February call about potential land-based expansion in Canada, Caesars Chief Executive Officer Tom Reeg was hesitant about the idea.
“We would look elsewhere in Canada, but I’ll tell you, most of what you find in Canada, to get a property the scale of Windsor, you have to operate a number of very, very small properties in tough locations,” Reg mused. “And that’s not typically been interesting to us.”
Alberta’s minister responsible for the iGaming rollout, Dale Nally, told Canadian Gaming Business earlier this year that iGaming operators and land-based casinos in Alberta pushed for the retail sportsbook opportunity as an additional source of revenue in the market.
