Alberta Freezes Purchase of American Slot Machines in Response to Trump Tariffs

^{Casinos in Calgary and the rest of Alberta will no longer do business with American slot manufacturers as a trade war between Canada and the US escalates. (Image: Ramon Cliff / Alamy)}

The Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) issued a directive on March 6 saying that the provincial government would only buy gaming equipment from companies that “share a free trade agreement with Canada” or which have support services in the province.

The move effectively ends the purchase of slot machines and other gaming equipment from American suppliers in an apparent response to tariffs levied on Canadian goods by the administration of President Donald Trump. 

Tariff Scuffle Spills into Gaming Industry

The move comes as Trump has both implemented tariffs and then swiftly rescinded some of them in negotiations with Mexico and Canada. On the same day that the AGLC issued its directive on American slots machines and video lottery terminals, Trump said that all tariffs impacting goods under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would be paused until at least April 2.

According to the US Census Bureau, about 38 percent of Canada’s exports to the United States are covered under the USMCA, meaning many tariffs remain in place. That has led some Canadian officials to continue taking a hardline on American products in return.

That appears to include the AGLC, which also suspended any importing of American liquor into Alberta last week.

“Clearly this directive is in response to the US administration’s tariff policy and we believe other Canadian provinces are likely to follow Alberta, negatively impacting slot vendor sales in the near term,” Phil Bernard, an analyst for Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, wrote in a research note on March 7. “We believe this policy is likely to remain in place until the US and Canada are able to reach a new trade agreement.”

Alberta Has Large Share of Canadian Gambling Market

The Alberta government has previously purchased about 4,000 slot machines and VLTs each year, Bernard wrote. Overall, Eilers & Krejcik estimates that Canada purchased roughly 15,000 slot machines and VLITs last year, good for about 16 percent of all purchases in the US and Canada combined. Luckily for online casinos in Alberta, they are not likely to be affected by the tarriffs. 

Not all of those slot machines are from American companies, however, and it’s unclear how some international firms that have offices throughout the world will be impacted. For instance, IGT is based in Italy, and says that it has more than 400 employees in Canadian offices.

“We produce Canadian VLT content in Canada, and our VLT cabinets can be manufactured in locations outside of the US,” IGT spokesman Phil O’Shaughnessy said in an email to the Nevada Independent. 

Other provinces have taken an even more aggressive approach in responding to American tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said that he will keep a 25 percent tariff on electricity – a price hike that impacts more than a million Americans in Minnesota, Michigan, and New York – until all tariffs are lifted on Canada. 

“A pause on some tariffs means nothing,” Ford wrote on X. “Until President Trump removes the threat of tariffs for good, we will be relentless.”