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Safe Bet Show: OLG’s Aaron GlynWilliams talks cultural relevance and Alberta

The Martin Lycka Safe Bet Show is back, and this time in the hot seat was Chief of Staff at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) Aaron GlynnWilliams.

GlynWilliams analysed OLG’s purpose and evolution in the face of ever-changing customer behaviour, the prospect of a regulated market in Alberta and how the strong “multicultural fabric” of Ontario is shaping gaming trends in the province.

OLG’s evolution

OLG, the organisation responsible for conducting and managing gaming activities in Ontario, is closing in on its 50th anniversary and GlynWilliams spoke about how it is changing its operating behaviour to meet the modern demands of consumers.

“As a corporation and a business, we’re facing some unique challenges and opportunities as I’m sure are familiar to others in the gaming industry,” said GlynWilliams.

“On our lottery line of business, we are working diligently on increasing the points of sale. Consumer behaviour is changing. People don’t go into the gas station anymore, they’re either charging their electric vehicle or they’re paying at the pump. When you’re at the grocery store you’re using the checkout lane.

“We need to broaden our points-of-sale to respond to those consumer behaviour changes and we’ve started launching self-serve terminals and integrating technology into self-checkouts. Our focus in the years to come is keeping up with consumer behaviour and making sure that they can access our products in the ways that they do their shopping and run their errands.”

Underlying this growth is a “commitment” to the people of Ontario. The OLG was created by an act of government and the money raised from gaming by the OLG is invested into social programs and government investment in the province.

As a result, GlynWilliams explained, responsible gambling is the “core” of OLG’s business and its priority is that what they’re doing is done in a way that “doesn’t further social harms or create unintended consequences”.

Alberta

Despite a delay in the process, it appears that Alberta is set to become the latest province in Canada to establish a regulated online gaming market. Speaking on the topic, GlynWilliams suggested that Alberta could be looking for some “inspiration” from the Ontario market, which was established in April 2022.

“Alberta will do what is right for them but I think what we’ve shown in Ontario is that opening up the market does channelise players out of the grey and black market sites and into licensed and regulated sites where a dividend can be provided to government dn a safer regulated space can be provided to players,” he said.

“I know that Alberta’s focus is to open up the market to achieve those same goals and some of the success in Ontario can certainly be informative to them as they do that.”

Diversity and inclusion

Also discussed during the episode was the strong “multicultural fabric” of Ontario and GlynWilliams explained that for a company to be successful in the region it has to integrate equity and inclusion principles, as well as be “reflective” of the community it serves.

“In the context of the gaming industry,” he added. “Continuing to grow by appealing primarily to a white male customer base is done. If we want to see continued growth in our industry, it means making sure that we’ve got the right cultural relevance.”

“Cricket is one of the fastest-growing sports in the Toronto market. Ontario is increasingly a cricket and soccer-playing country and that’s because our citizens are changing and coming from around the world.”

Light & Wonder and AGS post market share growth in Eilers-Fantini monthly report

Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) has released its latest monthly online game performance report providing insights into Canada’s online casino market.

Using a secure database supported by Oracle and Fantini Research, EKG analyzed more than 17,000 data points from nine iGaming sites across five provinces in its monthly report.

IGT leads in supplier revenue

The report determined that Light & Wonder is continuing to grow with the gambling company holding a 15% share of gross gaming revenue, up from 11.2% in 2023. Light & Wonder’s latest monthly results includes data from seven casino sites that offered 271 games. Players of Light & Wonder’s online casino titles wagered an average of $2.10 per bet throughout October.

Light & Wonder posted considerable growth but ranked behind IGT for supplier revenue.

EKG determined that IGT held a 17% share of overall gross gaming revenue in October maintaining its position as a market leader. The London-based company is also the highest-grossing supplier for slots and video poker. It ranked No. 2 in table game revenue.

IGT operated eight casino sites with 1,247 games tracked throughout October 2024.

IGT closed with the No. 1 ranked iGaming title with Cash Eruption, the most popular slot title in Canada. Evolution’s Live Dealer Roulette also found favor with Canadian players with the title closing as the second-most popular game in EKG’s October 2024 report. Games Global’s Cash Flip Devils Coin game rounded out the top three of game rankings.

AGS reports favorable growth

AGS also showcased its viability as a Canadian iGaming supplier in EKG’s latest report.

The Nevada-based gaming company remains far behind Ontario’s top suppliers but reported year-over-year growth. In October 2024, AGS closed the month with a 3.9% share in gross gaming revenue. By comparison, it held a 2.5% share for the same month last year.

AGS has benefited from a release of new themes for players as the company closed as the top new overall supplier with its games delivered by three casino sites seeing an average $9.96 wagered per bet. The next closet supplier was Evolution.

In October 2024, the Malta-based supplier saw players dish out $7.73 per bet. The EKG rankings for the top new overall supplier include companies that hold over 1% of total revenue share in Canada. EKG also provides rankings for suppliers with less than 1% of revenue.

Slots maintain popularity

Slots continued to dominate Canada’s iGaming market with the category making up roughly 84% of total games played in October. Table games ranked behind slots with the category holding a 4% share of games tracked with live casino rounding out the top three. Online lottery also found favor with players with the category making up 3.7% of games.

Instant win closed October 2024 with a 1.3% share of games tracked with bingo finishing at 0.8%.

Record results in Ontario

EKG has released its latest performance report following record quarterly iGaming handle.

Last week, iGaming Ontario (iGO) published its latest quarterly revenue report revealing that operators in the province accepted a record $18.7 billion in wagers in fiscal Q2. That same quarter, operators generated $738 million in revenue, up more than 30% year-over-year.

The iGO’s report for fiscal Q2 includes data from 51 operators and 83 gaming platforms.

Ontario online casinos more than compensate for flat betting quarter

Summer slowdown? Not so much in Ontario, at least on the iGaming side.

Commercial operators in Ontario’s regulated gaming market took $18.7 billion in wagers in the second quarter of the year alone, from July 1 to Sept. 30. That handle, as well as the gross gaming revenue figure of $738 million, are both quarterly records and both up more than 30% from the second quarter of last year.

The latest quarterly revenue report published by iGaming Ontario (iGO) on Thursday illustrates that the province’s regulated online gaming market continues to take big strides on a yearly basis, even if the quarterly gains are flattening out.

Across online gaming, online sports betting and online poker, overall handle was up 31.7% year-over-year and 1.6% quarter-over-quarter, while Ontario gaming sites made a total of $730.7 million in gross revenue, up 35.2% year-over-year and 1.7% quarter-over-quarter.

The curves are flattening, as one would expect, but business keeps growing.

Given that Ontario’s tax rate on online gambling is 20%, the province took $147.6 million in tax revenue last quarter, also a new record. Ontario has now reaped more than $1 billion mark in online gambling taxes alone since the market opened two-and-a-half years ago.

Sports betting handle up marginally from 2023

The iGO data encompasses 51 operators and 83 gaming platforms as of the end of Q2 2024. For comparison, this time last year, iGO said there were 47 operators and 71 sites live.

The snapshot provides an interesting insight into how online sports betting is faring vs. online casino. The answer: iGaming remains the undisputed king.

As it was last quarter, online casino rules the roost by some distance. Casino games, including slots, table games and peer-to-peer bingo, accounted for 86% of the total wagers ($16 billion) and 75% of the GGR ($553 million) in the province in Q2. Those online gaming dollar amounts were up 34.5% and 35.9% year-over-year, respectively.

In contrast, online sports betting handle fell for the third quarter in a row to $2.2 billion, likely due largely to the seasonality of sport, and was up a modest 15.8% from Q2 2023. The yearly gain was much more pronounced in wagering GGR, which rose 41.6% from Q2 2023 to $167 million, though it was down 7.7% from last quarter.

iGO noted that betting, which includes not only sports but also esports, proposition and novelty bets and exchange betting, accounted 12% of total handle last quarter.

 

In addition, iGO reported that more than 1.3 million player accounts were active during Q2, up 40% from 943,000 this time last year.

Average spend per player account continues to climb both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, hitting $308 compared to $191 last year and $284 last quarter.

OLG claims 21% of regulated Ontario online market

iGO data does not account for either the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s business or unregulated grey-market operations.

In OLG’s 2023-24 full-year report published recently, the crown corporation posted total online gaming and sports betting GGR of $630 million, up 12% from last year. That report covered the period from April, 1 2023 to March 31, 2024; since then, iGO has reported data for two quarters.

Given that iGO reported $2.4 billion in total FY 2023-24 GGR, total revenue for the second fiscal year of Ontario’s open market was just over $3 billion, up 54.5%. That would seem to mean that OLG held down 20.8% of Ontario’s regulated online gambling market in FY 2023-24 in terms of total GGR.

Overall, combining OLG and iGO reporting, regulated online gambling in the province has yielded fractionally less than $5 billion in GGR across the first two years of Ontarii’s open market from April 4, 2022 to March 31, 2024.

Atlantic Lottery profits and sports betting dip, iLottery grows

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) reported a slight dip in profits in the 2023-24 fiscal year despite 17% year-over-year growth in online lottery sales.

The ALC’s annual report for the 2023-24 fiscal year shows a drop of 1% or around $5.2 million in total net profit, down to $487 million, which President and CEO Patrick Daigle said this week was “expected” and “by design.”

The crown corporation posted gross revenue of $872 million, $28 million more than last year’s figure. But expenses of $385 million took a small bite out of the profit margin. Daigle said some of that increased expenditure was a result of “a catch-up year” of infrastructure renewals and improvements post-pandemic, including new in-store lottery terminals.

“We’re making investments in the business that were planned and at a time when we knew that our revenues were increasing and we could afford to make those investments. We’re very happy with the year,” Daigle said Wednesday. The ALC said in a statement that its actual profit represents an increase of $1.6 million above the budgeted profit.

That $487 million in net profits was distributed back to the four Atlantic provinces: $161.7 million to Nova Scotia, $151.2 million to New Brunswick, $147.3 million to Newfoundland and Labrador and $26.8 million to Prince Edward Island. In every province other than Nova Scotia, that amount fell from last year.

Online lottery up, sports betting down amid unregulated competition

While retail sales were flat, Atlantic Lottery made progress with its digital operations.

Gross gaming revenue for its iLottery line of business increased by $24.7 million (17%) year-over-year in what was its first full year of online operations in the most profitable Atlantic province of Nova Scotia. Meanwhile, net revenue from iGames, including einstants, and online table games, slots and bingo, reached $126.2 million in 2023-24, up 26%.

The growth was boosted by new significant gaming supplier partners such as NeoGames as well as the launch of online casino in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“We’re trying to future-proof a lottery business, and one of the ways we’re going to do that is through digitization,” Daigle told attendees at this year’s Canadian Gaming Summit back in June. “We worry about relevance to the under-35 segment, we worry about traffic patterns and retail, and we worry about jackpot fatigue… For the under-35s, it’s about meeting them and that is absolutely via the digital channel. It’s wrapping experiences around lottery for them.”

Although the impact won’t be seen until next year’s results, ALC has already taken notable steps in the 2024-25 fiscal year, such as agreeing a deal with IGT to launch cloud-based games and solutions and launching major studio Evolution’s games for the first time this fall.

However, ALC underwhelmed in terms of sports betting performance.

On the sports wagering side, net revenue was down 13.4% to $14.8 million, significantly lower than was budgeted for in the fiscal year. ALC noted that digital revenue made up 77% of all sports betting sales. Retail sports betting sales were down 3%.

Daigle calls out unregulated operators amid Bodog exit

Daigle, always a vocal critic of the presence of unregulated gambling operators in the Atlantic region, cited research data at CGS in June that suggests that up to two-thirds of consumers don’t know that such operators are unlicensed.

He reaffirmed his stance again in this year’s report.

“Our commitment to healthy play is a key differentiator that sets Atlantic Lottery apart from illegal gambling operators,” he wrote. “Some Atlantic Canadians may not realize that Atlantic Lottery is the only legal provider of online gaming and sports-betting products in our region. Unfortunately, nearly $200 million leaves Atlantic Canada each year as a result of the illegal gambling market, allowing private operators to profit instead of benefiting our local communities.”

The ALC stated in its report that its online gambling operations hold a 22% market share of total online betting and gaming activity in the Atlantics.

In Nova Scotia, at least, it now has one fewer competitor. Prominent Antigua and Barbuda-based operator Bodog no longer operates in the province’s grey market after closing down its business in the province at the start of October. “Lack of public awareness of the legalities has lent an air of legitimacy to these operators and misleads the public, so we are encouraged to hear that Bodog will be ceasing illegal operations in Nova Scotia,” Daigle told Canadian Gaming Business at the time.

OLG report suggests it holds one-fifth of Ontario online gaming market

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG)’s full-year report suggests that the lottery corporation captured one-fifth of Ontario’s regulated online gambling activity in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Earlier this month, OLG published its full-year figures for the FY that ended on March 31, 2024. The FY report showed that OLG’s digital operations grew year-over-year despite immense competition from commercial operators.

The crown corporation reported total gross online gaming and sports betting revenue of $630 million, up 12% from the $561 million it posted last year. CEO Duncan Hannay noted that monthly average player counts rose by 11% year-over-year.

Ontario’s online gaming and betting revenue is reported by two separate entities: OLG and iGaming Ontario (iGO), which discloses the official numbers for the commercial regulated market that consists of 51 operators and 83 websites at the most recent count. iGO released its own year-end report way back in April, posting $2.4 billion in gross gaming revenue.

Total Ontario online gambling hits $5 billion

Combining the OLG and iGO reports for the period from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 suggests that total revenue for the second FY since the province welcomed commercial operators into the fray was just over $3 billion. That represents a 54.5% increase on year one’s total of just short of $2 billion. Ontario’s regulated online gambling market opened three days after the start of the 2022-23 FY, on April 4, 2022.

Overall, regulated Ontario online gambling has now yielded fractionally less than $5 billion in gross gaming revenue through two years from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024, of which OLG has contributed $1.2 billion.

It also means that, taking the numbers at face value, OLG held down 20.8% of Ontario’s regulated online gambling market in FY 2023-24 in terms of total gross revenue. That doesn’t take into account any unregulated grey market gambling activity that may still be going on despite the plethora of licensed options.

In total, OLG has now contributed a net profit of $634 million to the Ontario government over the last two fiscal years ($302 million in FY 2023-24, $332 million in FY 2023-24).

While OLG grows online, overall gaming proceeds slide

While the OLG appears to be acquitting itself fairly well online, its digital gaming, which includes online casino-style games and sports betting products as well as online lottery sales, makes up just 13.4% of its total revenue. Retail lottery sales and land-based gaming (casinos and charitable gaming) each represent a far bigger slice.

The OLG’s overall gaming revenue slipped 6.5% year-over-year to $4.7 billion as it suffered a marked drop in the retail lottery sector. Its lottery revenue dropped 5.5% to $1.76 billion last year, while net profits from lottery sales suffered twice as large a drop, at 11%.

Land-based gaming revenue stayed flat at $1.98 billion compared to $1.96 billion in 2022-23, but casino gaming profit to the province was down 3%.

“Despite significant challenges to the business this year, including the delayed opening of a casino development in Toronto and fewer high value lottery jackpots, we were pleased to see OLG deliver a strong financial return to the province in fiscal 2023-24,” wrote OLG Chair Jim Warren in the report.

BetVictor signs former Toronto Raptor Tracy McGrady

Former Toronto Raptor Tracy McGrady has plenty of experience as a victor, having twice been named NBA scoring champion during his career.

Now, the seven-time All-Star is making it official. The 45-year-old has signed up with BVGroup as the BetVictor brand’s Safer Gambling Ambassador in Canada.

McGrady only played three of his 16 NBA seasons in Toronto but remains a popular figure among the city’s basketball fans, thanks in no small part to the double-act he formed with his cousin, Raptors legend Vince Carter, in the 1999-2000 season which led the franchise to their first-ever postseason berth.

Now, he will help to promote BetVictor’s responsible gambling practices and raise awareness of responsible betting behaviours among the brand’s Canadian customers.

“Safer gambling is an important issue across Canada and I look forward to helping to promote this message alongside BetVictor to encourage Canadian customers to bet and play safely and responsibly,” said McGrady.

“We are thrilled to have signed Tracy McGrady to BetVictor to promote Safer Gambling,” said BVGroup Chief Commercial Officer Brent Almeida. “Tracy is a perfect role model, with an amazing career across 16 seasons in the NBA. Aligning with him is a perfect fit for the BetVictor brand.”

BetVictor is a licensed betting operator in the Ontario market, having been green-lit by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario in June 2022.

Licensed operators in Ontario are not permitted to use athletes or other celebrities in their marketing unless it is specifically for the purpose of promoting responsible gambling measures, per AGCO standards.

The Gibraltar-headquartered operator is also licensed in its home market as well as the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland.

Last year, BetVictor revealed its new BVGroup corporate identity to “reflect its position” as a multi-brand gambling operator and B2B technology solutions provider. As well as BetVictor, BVGroup also has the likes of Betano UK, Heart Bingo and Wiz Slots under its umbrella

ESE Entertainment buys gaming production company Bombee Americas

Vancouver-based gaming technology and esports company ESE Entertainment has completed the acquisition of Bombee Global Entertainment Ltd., known as Bombee Americas.

Bombee Americas is the North American arm of Bombee Event Production AB, a global production company specializing in live production, special effects, broadcast and event management for the gaming sector. The two companies have collaborated in the past on ESE’s premier event production services and customer service in North America and beyond.

ESE acquired all outstanding shares of Bombee Americas in exchange for a total cash consideration of $1.5 million CAD, including half to be paid on closing and the other half to be paid within a year of closing.

In a release, ESE said that Bombee Americas will continue to grow and scale under its oversight while maintaining its own entire team and global support. Bombee Americas’ founders have signed three-year service agreements and will continue to run the business after closing.

“Today marks the next stage of ESE — a 2.0 version of our company,” said ESE CEO Konrad Wasiela. “With the acquisition of Bombee Americas, we are not only solidifying our presence in North America but also paving the way for growth and innovation in the gaming industry. This is a major step, positioning us to deliver even greater value to our partners and elevate the gaming experience for our clients globally. We’re thrilled about the opportunities ahead and the exceptional talent joining our team.”

Founded by Wasiela, a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback, ESE focuses largely on providing a unique and engaging esports experience to both seasoned esports players and newbies. Wasiela has spoken in the past of how he believes esports is the “entertainment 2.0” of the present and future. With Bombee on board, his company is primed to continue to help drive that innovation.

Responsible Gambling Council explains how it drives change with action

The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) has illustrated how a year of education, certification and other action continued to propagate responsible gambling in Ontario and beyond.

In its 2023-24 annual report, titled “Impact: Action Drives Change,” the RGC noted that as rapidly evolving technology, media, politics and culture continue to transform the industry, it has become more important to raise RG standards and produce evidence-based recommendations to guide the strategic development of policies and regulations.

Against that backdrop, the RGC said industry leaders have contributed increased funding to advance evidence-informed recommendations for gambling marketing and advertising and digital health policy. The RGC called that “an impact that will result in ripple effects throughout our industry.”

The momentum of those industry-wide efforts is resulting in meaningful impact, said the council.

In particular, RGC conducted research in partnership with Playtech into where new opportunities exist for technology to deliver information and support to players. The council recommended that operators emphasize measures including offering personalized tools tailored by player segment, destigmatizing tool usage and generating operator buy-in to facilitate the development and implementation of a standard suite of digital tools.

The RGC also added Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) to its roster of partners as part of its quest to develop strong relationships within the Canadian sports industry to support integrating responsible gambling practices within the rapidly evolving sector. The RGC developed a workshop for MLSE to equip staff with sports betting harm prevention knowledge and tools.

RG Check has busiest year ever

The RGC operates the RG Check accreditation, which it said “continues to be the most comprehensive responsible gambling accreditation program in the world.”

Last year, more online and land-based operators completed RG Check accreditation than ever before. The RGC doled out 44 new accreditations, 12 land-based and 32 in iGaming, with a particular focus on operators entering Ontario.

“The whole purpose of RG Check is to raise all boats,” said retiring CEO Shelley White on Steve McAllister’s Gaming News Canada podcast. White is stepping down at the end of the year and the RGC expects to name her replacement by the end of November.

As it continues to expand its efforts, RG Check added more analysts and redesigned the team to include new management roles aimed at enhancing delivery and customer service capacity.

PlaySmart Centres go virtual

The RGC also runs the PlaySmart Centre program, in collaboration with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which dedicates designated centres and highly trained staff in casinos and charitable gaming centres to provide players with facts, tools and advice about gambling.

The council stated that last year, PlaySmart Centers reached more than half a million players, patrons and gaming staff at 67 land-based gaming venues across Ontario. Some 410,915 players and patrons accessed support, 218,728 visitors received responsible gambling information, 186,766 visitors participated in an interactive educational event series and 5,411 visitors received support and assistance related to gambling concerns.

The RGC also took the PlaySmart Centre program virtual for the first time, giving Ontario gamblers unprecedented access to the toolkit and support resources.

Busting the ‘illusion of control’ myth

Much of the RGC’s outreach over the last year has focused on breaking down what it calls “the illusion of control,” which can cause individuals to experience overconfidence in their ability to predict a win based on knowledge or skill.

In particular, The Randomizer program replicates a video game with a smartphone as the game controller. Users play a replica of a coin collection challenge, but the controller arrows swap positions at randomized intervals between levels. The intention is to illustrate that gaming outcomes are highly unpredictable no matter the player’s level of skill at a certain game. The program had 3,600+ meaningful young adult interactions through 25 in-person activations across Ontario, said the RGC.

Those efforts were supported by the council’s latest public service announcement, “Gambling School.” Viewers were prompted by a call to action to learn more about the risks of gambling and safer play strategies by visiting a custom campaign landing page. RGC and its partners including ThinkTV targeted a wide media mix spanning digital and traditional channels, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and strategically placed websites including theScore. RGC reported the campaign yielded tens of millions of impressions.

VP of Marketing and Communications Elaine McDougall told McAllister that RGC staff are working on new PSAs that will go to market next month, one tailored for sports betting and the other for iGaming.

Northstar Bets hopes to draw in customers with $100K Blackjack tournament

NorthStar Bets is offering up Ontarians an opportunity to win their share of $100,000 by putting their Blackjack skills to the test.

Blackjack winner will receive 10 ounce bar of gold

From Oct. 21-N0v. 25, the site will be running the NorthStar Blackjack Championship. Participants in the competition earn points for every consecutive set of winning hands they post at the tables. They will have a month to earn those points and move up the leaderboard before the top 50 are invited to take part in a final one-week playoff.

The winner of the final week will take home quite the trophy, as NorthStar Bets will be awarding a 10-ounce gold bar valued at $35,000 unless the winner opts for the equivalent cash value.

The rest of the prize pool will be spread around to other players. There will be nightly leaderboard winner prizes of $250 throughout the promotion as well as substantial weekly leaderboard prizes for the top three finishers, who can win as much as $2,000.

“We believe this is a first-of-its-kind tournament that provides an incredible opportunity for our online players to showcase their skills in one of the world’s most thrilling and renowned casino games,” said Chair and CEO of NorthStar Gaming Michael Moskowitz.

“We’re excited to unite an online community of Blackjack fanatics for a chance to demonstrate their talent and win big. The idea behind this tournament underscores our commitment to innovation and positions our platform as a premier destination for players seeking a unique and exciting experience.”

NorthStar’s continued growth not without speedbumps

Q2 was a record quarter for NorthStar, a brand that is outpacing the growth rate of the regulated Ontario market. The site has already taken more than $1 billion in bets.

This massive growth is not without its hiccups though.

Just last week, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) fined the operator $30,000 for geolocation failings. The AGCO discovered the issue during compliance monitoring where the group attempted to log in to NorthStar Bets from Quebec and New York.

In addition to the geolocation issue, the AGCO also reprimanded NorthStar Bets for its failure to file paperwork with the regulatory body in a timely manner.

Nally’s approach to Alberta is to lead with the carrot

Speaking at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last week, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally offered no exact timeline on when Alberta might establish a regulated online gambling market, but he did give some insights into how he is approaching the process and how conversations are going.

He joked about the humour in someone tasked with reducing red tape insisting on regulations, but he also reiterated his passion around bringing regulated gaming to the province.

“To be clear, my job is not to reduce regulation,” he told attendees at G2E. “It’s actually to reduce red tape. We define it as duplication of regulation and unnecessary regulation.”

Nally wants to lead with the carrot, not the stick

For Nally, an open market creates what he sees as unnecessary limitations on the industry. Opening it up to grey operators is an example of what he called leading with the carrot instead of the stick.

“When you use incentives, I think you have more buy-in from the industry. And it’s a fundamental belief I have that the world is full of good people that sometimes make mistakes, and so you should meet that with coaching training.”

He applauded Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), explaining how he went on some ridealongs and was very impressed with how the provincial crown corporation officers educated those in violation as opposed to ruling with an iron fist.

That is why Nally is more open to converting the grey market than some opponents in Canada have been; he fundamentally believes these operators are good actors eager to comply and follow a regulatory model similar to what is available in Ontario.

His conversations with operators only affirmed his stance that they are people who deserve the opportunity to work within a regulatory framework.

“I will say I was pleasantly surprised by this, but what I heard from the industry was their commitment to responsible gaming, and I didn’t expect that message to be as loud as it was,” he added. “I love it because that makes my job easier as I go back to Alberta and speak to my colleagues and tell them about your commitment to responsible behaviour.”

Alberta committed to First Nations involvement

Cabinet members are not the only people Nally has had conversations with on the subject.

As Canadian Gaming Business has previously reported, conversations with First Nations groups began this summer. Nally spoke a bit about why the province is putting a lot of emphasis on making sure that the groups are comfortable with how gaming moves forward.

“We drew a line in the sand in 2019 when we got elected, and we said that we are going to treat First Nations as partners in prosperity,” he said. How that partnership will look is TBD.

According to Nally, it is the First Nations who are undecided about how things move forward.

“They want to have a role in this iGaming market. They’re not sure what it looks like right now. Is it going to be a partnership with a current operator? Is it going to be a consortium of First Nations that come together to launch their own brand? I don’t know where they’re going to land,” he said.

“Time will tell. Ultimately, we view them as partners in prosperity, and we welcome them into this iGaming space.”

Timeline dictated by enabling legislation approval

Canadian Gaming Association President and CEO Paul Burns moderated the panel Nally appeared on and ended the discussion by asking what, this time next year, Nally hopes to be saying about online gaming in Alberta.

“If I’m back here a year from now I’m bragging about [how] the Edmonton Oilers have won the Stanley Cup. We’ll be talking about an open and free market in Alberta, and I’m hoping that the feedback that I get is, ‘Thank you for making our entry into your market seamless and easy.’”

In order to do that, Nally will need to introduce enabling legislation that is approved by the provincial. The earliest that can take place is next spring, so whether or not October 2025 is before or after launch is very much still up for debate.