The Canadian online gambling industry reached a major milestone on July 13, with the launch of the regulated market in Alberta.
As the second province to regulate its betting industry, Alberta had the advantage of watching and learning from Ontario, but it is expected to also serve as an additional signpost about the evolution of regulated sports betting in Canada.
Esports betting solutions provider Oddin.gg, one of the first suppliers to secure its licence ahead of Alberta’s launch, sees the province as an exciting opportunity for esports betting.
As Head of Sales Todd McCully tells Canadian Gaming Business, it is a market with a strong sports culture, growing demand for betting and the potential to accelerate esports wagering.
“The Canadian market is more mature than the market size would suggest,” McCully explains. “Competitive gaming already enjoys strong grassroots support, while younger audiences have grown up following esports in the same way previous generations followed traditional sports.”
Canada’s next phase of regulation
For McCully, Alberta represents further validation that Canada’s regulated betting model is gaining momentum.
“Ontario proved that the competitive model works in Canada,” he says, pointing to several years of successful operation under a framework built around licensed operators, provincial oversight and consumer protections. With Alberta now adopting a similar commercial approach, he believes other provinces will be watching closely.
Alberta also has a distinct advantage: it already boasts a genuinely engaged sports audience and real betting demand. He expects that with this existing momentum and the revenue potential of esports betting, it won’t take long for operators to add it to their books.
That is one of the reasons Oddin.gg moved early to secure its licence. Completing the regulatory process before launch allowed the company to begin conversations with operators preparing for day one, ensuring its esports betting products would be available as soon as the market opened.
“If you’re licensed and ready from the start, it tips toward opportunity,” he says.
Esports are ready for Alberta — and Alberta is ready for esports
Operator interest arrived almost immediately after Alberta’s launch was confirmed, with sportsbooks contacting Oddin.gg to discuss integrating esports products ahead of opening day.
McCully expects traditional American football, basketball and ice hockey to generate most of the initial betting volume and marketing, as operators naturally prioritize the country’s biggest sports. But the early outreach by operators is a clear sign that esports will become “a serious line item” as sportsbooks look for ways to differentiate themselves, grow their handle, and attract the new generation of bettors.
In his view, the challenge has never been convincing players to bet on esports. The demand already exists. What has been missing is regulated supply and operators’ understanding of esports’ potential to boost their handle.
“Our internal data, based on billions of bets across our global markets, shows that the first bet of an esports bettor is up to 7x the average first bet for a sports bettor. And at the 2025 League of Legends Worlds, the average bet stake was €77,” he adds.
He also believes operators are becoming increasingly sophisticated. While some still treat esports as an additional part of the sportsbook, others place it as a strategic growth vertical.
“We’ve got operators where esports is even in the top five titles in performance,” he says.
User experience becomes the new battleground
McCully acknowledges that Alberta’s launch will likely be considerably more competitive than Ontario’s was in 2022. More operators entering simultaneously means more suppliers competing for partnerships, but it also creates significantly more commercial opportunities.
With numerous integration and procurement decisions taking place at once, specialist suppliers have a greater chance to demonstrate their expertise. According to McCully, operators entering a brand-new regulated market want technology partners capable of delivering reliable products and ongoing support from the start so that they can focus on building their brands.
As sportsbooks increasingly converge around similar market coverage, McCully believes competitive advantage is shifting elsewhere.
“Market coverage got operators most of the way over the last few years,” he says. “The difference comes down to the variety of content and the user experience.”
That is where specialist esports products can make a meaningful difference.
Although they may sit alongside football or basketball within the same sportsbook, the esports betting experience is fundamentally different. Matches evolve rapidly, momentum changes within seconds and live pricing must react almost instantly.
McCully explains that specialist providers have a clear advantage because their products have been built specifically around those dynamics rather than adapted from traditional sports models.
“The advantage isn’t whether a provider offers esports content anymore,” he says. “It’s whether the betting experience holds up in the fast-paced environment of esports. The odds need to be able to keep pace.”
Alberta is unlikely to be the last province to become regulated, and McCully expects the next wave of jurisdictions to study Ontario and Alberta as closely as Alberta studied Ontario. “It’s smart practice to learn from what’s already running rather than starting from zero,” he says.
What will matter more than any regulatory framework is how it performs live — Ontario has had several years to prove itself; Alberta is still earning that track record in real time.
Oddin.gg isn’t starting from zero either. Alberta is its second Canadian license and its eighth across North America; when the next jurisdiction opens up, Oddin will be prepared.
“We’ll be ready, just as we were for Alberta,” McCully says.
