Century Casinos executives made it clear that the brick-and-mortar gaming operator is looking to sell off its Alberta casinos as it continues to assess how to trim debt and create more value for shareholders.
On an earnings call on Friday, Aug. 7, Co-CEO Peter Hoetzinger said the company is considering multiple options for its two commercial casinos and two horsetrack-adjacent racinos in the province.
“We could sell all four together or go the direction of selling the two racinos in one package and the two commercial casinos in another package,” Hoetzinger told analysts.
“There’s interest for both. And one is a little bit more ahead than the other. We think that at least for one of those packages, we should be able to publicly disclose something before the end of the year.”
Why is Century Casinos looking to sell its Canadian business?
Hoetzinger’s latest comments come nearly 18 months after he and his Co-CEO and Chair Erwin Haitzmann said in March 2025 that they were “considering” the future of their Canadian operations.
Century Casinos runs four casinos in Alberta:
- Century Casino & Hotel Edmonton
- Century Casino St. Albert
- Century Downs Racetrack and Casino
- Century Mile Racetrack and Casino
The firm sold the real estate assets of the locations to VICI Properties in 2023, leasing them back from the casino real estate investment trust.
“With regard to the non-U. S. properties, divesting of those entities is an option and is under consideration,” Haitzmann said last year.
Century’s Alberta casinos actually performed fairly well in Q2 2026, with all four producing more revenue than they did in the same period in 2025. Overall Canadian revenue rose 2.2% year over year to US$20.4m, and Canadian adjusted EBITDA jumped 11.1% to US$6.2m.
That revenue, however, is lower than any of its U.S. geographic segments.
Overall, Century Casinos posted a net loss to shareholders of US$10.9m for the three months ended June 30, although that was down 11% from US$12.3m a year earlier.
A Century spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business last year that every property is available for the right price if it were to benefit shareholders. “As the business volume of our Canadian operations is relatively small in comparison to the U.S. segment, we are not surprised that the question comes up,” the spokesperson added.
Alberta retail sportsbooks on the agenda at Century Casinos
Separately, Century Casinos Executive Vice President of Operations for Canada and Europe, Nikolaus Strohriegel, confirmed to Canadian Gaming Business last month that the company has no current plans to take part in Alberta’s new regulated online gambling market.
Alberta’s iGaming regulations allow brick-and-mortar casino operators to register to launch an iGaming platform, and also let them apply to offer retail sportsbooks at their physical locations.
While Century Casinos does not plan to roll out iGaming, the Colorado-headquartered company does intend to offer retail sportsbooks in Alberta. It has a similar arrangement in Missouri‘s online sports betting market that opened last December, where it works with BetMGM to offer sportsbooks at its brick-and-mortar casinos in the state.
Although Haitzmann confirmed on Friday’s call that he doesn’t foresee any online gambling plans, he did confirm that the company “is focused on leveraging” Alberta’s new iGaming market by utilizing sportsbook facilities across all four of its properties in the province.
Hoetzinger confirmed that there is “an opportunity for our retail sportsbook” and noted that some potential partners have already expressed interest.
“Some of those sports betting companies have knocked on our doors, and we are in, let’s say, early-stage talks,” said Hoetzinger.
Other Alberta casinos begin to make iGaming moves
While Century Casinos will stay on the sidelines of Alberta iGaming, other land-based casino operators in the province have begun taking steps to participate.
On Friday, Aug. 7, PURE Casino Entertainment became the first casino operator in Alberta to start taking bets online through a new purecasino.ca platform. PURE also announced last month a deal with sports betting technology specialist Kambi to launch retail sportsbooks at some of its seven brick-and-mortar casinos in Alberta.
Meanwhile, another First Nations casino, River Cree Resort & Casino, has also registered to launch an online gambling brand but is yet to take the site live.
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