Alberta's iGaming Czar Shows His Cards: Grey Market Converts Welcome

^{Dan Keene (inset) has the job of turning Alberta's fractured online gambling landscape into a regulated market that works for players, operators, and the province. Here's how he plans to do it. (Image:Terrance Klassen / CNW Group / Alberta iGaming Corporation)}

Alberta is five weeks from launching its regulated iGaming market – with top-tier operators in casino, poker and sports betting – and the man running it has a clear-eyed view of both the opportunity ahead, as well as its challenges.

Dan Keene, the permanent CEO of the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) – the Crown corporation that will conduct and manage the province's online gaming market when it opens July 13 – is sitting on a strong hand. 

Alberta has Canada's highest per-capita GDP, one of its youngest populations, and a demonstrably robust appetite for gambling. Gaming giants FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Caesars are already registered and will be live from day one.

But Keene also knows that roughly 70% of Albertans who gamble online are currently doing so on unregulated platforms that pay no provincial tax and fall outside regulatory oversight. Right now, the province's only regulated option – government-run Play Alberta – claims just 30% of the market.

His job is to flip those numbers. And in a wide-ranging conversation with Casinos.com, Keene laid out exactly how AiGC intends to do it. 

"Our goal is not to grow iGaming, that's not our mandate," Keene said. "Our mandate is Albertan satisfaction, protecting Albertans' information and providing social responsibility tools."

The Ontario Blueprint

When Ontario launched Canada's first legal iGaming market in April 2022, it did so with no provincial model to follow. Alberta, set to become the second, has had the benefit of Ontario's hard-won experience and goodwill that came with it.

That head start has been significant. Ontario's iGaming arm helped Alberta fast-track processes that might otherwise have taken years, and the results speak for themselves. Four years in, 91% of Ontario's online gamblers now play on regulated sites.

Keene wants Alberta to get there faster.

"We'd like to see a channelization rate of 70 to 75% within two years, and we believe that's achievable," he said. "In fact, we think we can beat that number."

Responsible Gambling, Day One

Keene said that Alberta is already ahead of Ontario with responsible gambling. Alberta’s market will launch with consumer protections baked in from the start.

One example of this commitment is the RG Check accreditation that all online casinos wishing to enter Alberta must obtain. 

Created by the Toronto-based Responsible Gambling Council, RG Check is an independent responsible gambling accreditation program that sees both land-based and online casinos continuously monitored and assessed to ensure their ongoing compliance.

And on July 13, Alberta will launch a centralized self-exclusion tool allowing players to exclude themselves from all regulated online casinos at once.

Ontario's equivalent tool only came online last month – more than four years after its market launched.

"Alberta is not giving lip service on social responsibility," Keene said. "It is foundational to what we're going to deliver in this marketplace. We're here to ensure operators are doing what they need to do to protect Albertans' funds and information, and to remind Albertans to play responsibly."

First Nations Promised a Seat at the Table

Alberta's revenue model literally puts indigenous communities first. Before operators pay the province its share, 2% of gross gaming revenue flows directly to First Nations communities (with Indigenous Relations determining how those funds are allocated). Another 1% comes off the top for problem gambling research and treatment. Operators then pay 20% of remaining revenue to the province.

But Keene framed First Nations involvement as more than just a revenue line. Several Nations, he said, have already been in contact about launching their own iGaming operations.

"We will always have an open door and a strong partnership and relationship with the Nations," Keene said. "We've had some Nations reach out to us about launching their own iGaming site in the province, both on their own or with a partner."

Alberta's deliberate approach hopes to avoid friction Ontario ran into on rollout when the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation sued the province, contending it had violated the Constitution by failing to consult Indigenous leaders before the market launched. The bitter legal dispute remains unresolved. 

Alberta’s government says it took consultation seriously from the outset, receiving input from First Nation partners during the summer of 2024. 

"There's always lessons to be learned, and we are very aware of that," Keene said. 

A Welcome Mat for Grey Market Operators?

One of Keene's more striking postures is not treating unregulated offshore operators as the enemy.

Many of the platforms that have served Albertan players for years are, by most accounts, legitimate operations. They offer fair games and pay out winnings. But structurally, with no provincial licence, they don’t pay a single cent of provincial tax contributions and fall outside the jurisdiction of the AGLC. 

Rather than shunning the offshore sites that have provided their digital games to Albertans for decades now, albeit without contributing to the public purse, Keene wants to extend the olive branch, and invites these sites to re-enter Alberta, provided they do things properly and get regulated.

"To those illegal sites, we would encourage you to come to Alberta," he said. "Knock on the door of AGLC, and then come see us at AiGC. Alberta is a tremendously positive economic engine for Canada with high disposable income and a very business friendly environment. If folks want to operate in the open, regulated space, we welcome the conversation."

The path is straightforward in structure, if not simple in practice: register with the AGLC, which regulates and oversees the market, then enter a commercial partnership with AiGC. The same door that FanDuel walked through is open to any operator willing to do it right.

Watching Prediction Markets Closely

No conversation about North American gaming in 2026 is complete without discussion of prediction markets. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have drawn fierce regulatory pushback in the U.S. while simultaneously attracting a surge of users. Whether they have a home in Alberta is, for now, an open question – but not one AiGC is ignoring.

"Our friends at AGLC are having a look, as is the Alberta Securities Commission," Keene said. "It's down to those two entities to determine the potential path. From an AiGC perspective we're keenly aware and we're keeping close eyes on it. We'll see what transpires."

Keene – who spent 13 years at the AGLC, most recently as vice president of gaming, and five and a half years on the operator side at Century Casinos – came to this role with his eyes open about what Alberta's gaming market can deliver. His read on the province's online potential is unambiguous.

"Alberta is a strong market for gambling, and that's been proven by our history," he said. "We've got some very successful land-based casinos here, and the iGaming space is going to be very, very fruitful."