Alberta’s regulated sports betting market launches on July 13, 2026, and the operator pipeline is filling up fast. As of May 1, 2026, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission had 30 operator sites that had commenced or completed the registration process, a roster that already dwarfs what Ontario had confirmed heading into its own April 2022 launch. The names include most of the major books Alberta bettors have been using on the grey market for years, alongside a handful of new entrants making their first move into Canada.
For Alberta bettors, this is the article to bookmark. Here’s exactly who is in, who is expected, and what the AGLC actually requires before any of these operators can take a single bet on July 13.
Who Has Already Started or Completed AGLC Registration?
The AGLC’s public registration list, reported by Canadian Gaming Business on May 4, confirms the following operators have commenced or completed the process:
- theScore Bet (PENN Entertainment), the first operator formally approved, on April 23, 2026
- Caesars, which will run three products in Alberta (Caesars Sportsbook & Casino, Caesars Palace Online Casino, and Horseshoe Online Casino)
- DraftKings, bringing two products, DraftKings Sportsbook and Casino along with Golden Nugget Online Gaming
- FanDuel
- BetMGM
- BetRivers (Rush Street Interactive)
- Bet99
- BetNova
- PointsBet Canada
- Super Group, operating six brands in Alberta including Betway, Grizzly’s Quest, Jackpot City, Royal Vegas, Ruby Fortune, and Spin Casino
- Entain’s Sports Interaction
- Bally’s, covering two products, Bally Bet and Monopoly Casino & Sportsbook
- ToonieBet (Soft2Bet’s Albertix Gaming Limited)
- Lucky Days, PartyCasino, Casino Time
- Stardust Casino (Pala Interactive, via Betty Boyd Gaming)
- River Cree iGaming and Pure Casino Entertainment
- Play Alberta, the government-run platform, which continues under the new model
Minister of Service Alberta Dale Nally told the Edmonton Journal in mid-April that at least 32 operators had applied at that point, meaning the list above represents a snapshot and not a final count. The actual day-one roster may be larger still.
Who Is Confirmed as Intending to Apply but Not Yet Listed?
Canadian Gaming Business reporting from May 4 also identified several high-profile operators that have confirmed their intent to apply for an AGLC licence but had not yet appeared on the official registration list. These include:
- bet365, the UK-headquartered giant already operating in Ontario under AGCO
- NorthStar Gaming, a Canadian-founded operator with a track record in Ontario
- PowerPlay
- TonyBet
- Soft2Bet, a second brand beyond ToonieBet, brand name TBD
The registration window does not close on July 13 entirely. The AGLC has provisions for a limited extension period until October 13, 2026, but only for operators who can demonstrate a genuine structural barrier to compliance that was not caused by their own delay. In practice, any serious operator that misses July 13 without a documented reason faces a finding of unsuitability that could bar it from Alberta permanently. Expect the stragglers on the intent-to-apply list to file before the hard deadline.
theScore Bet and the Value of Being First Approved
PENN Entertainment’s theScore Bet earned its place as the first formally approved Alberta operator on April 23, 2026, and the company’s leadership has been direct about what that head-start is worth. Speaking to analysts after PENN’s Q1 2026 results, executives acknowledged that Alberta will be a stiffer competitive environment than Ontario was at launch in April 2022, with more than 30 applicants versus a much smaller Ontario day-one field.
“When we launched in Ontario, it was a lot less competitive,” PENN’s LaBerge noted. “There are a lot more applicants and people in market for Alberta. Leaning on the theScore brand is going to help us break through some of that noise.”
That brand recognition is real in Alberta, where theScore has a large sports-media following. PENN has confirmed significant marketing spend tied to the Alberta launch, and with the Oilers and Flames fan bases firmly inside Alberta’s borders, the NHL betting angle is obvious.
How the AGLC Licensing Process Actually Works
The AGLC’s registration and licensing process runs in three distinct phases, as laid out in the Internet Gaming Go-Live Compliance Guide. Operators work through two separate provincial bodies. The AGLC handles regulatory registration, and the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) manages commercial operating agreements. Both sign-offs are required before an operator can go live.
The process opens with due diligence. Every applicant must engage the AGLC’s Due Diligence Unit for background checks covering the company’s ownership structure, financial stability, key personnel, associated persons, and compliance history across other jurisdictions. This is a meaningful hurdle. Operators with regulatory problems in other markets, enforcement actions, licence suspensions, or material AML failures will face serious scrutiny. The AGLC is not rubber-stamping applications.
Once due diligence clears, operators move into the operational compliance phase. They must demonstrate that their internal systems meet Alberta’s operational standards, covering responsible gambling controls, anti-money laundering procedures aligned with FINTRAC requirements, identity verification for age and geolocation, game integrity, player fund protection, and reporting capabilities. Operators must also integrate with the AGLC’s centralized self-exclusion program, a feature that goes further than Ontario’s approach by allowing players to self-exclude simultaneously across all Alberta iGaming platforms, land-based casinos, and racing venues.
The final phase is technical integration with provincial systems and readiness testing before any wagers can be accepted. Getting registered carries significant cost. Application fees run $50,000, with an annual registration fee of $150,000 per iGaming site. Supplier fees range from $3,000 to $15,000 depending on category. Operators can market their upcoming Alberta products and collect pre-registrations during the process, but they cannot accept deposits or bets until the AiGC formally announces market launch.
Ontario Operators Carrying Over: What Bettors Should Know
The vast majority of the Ontario-licensed sportsbooks that Alberta bettors have been accessing as grey-market products are now formally in the AGLC pipeline. Books like FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, BetRivers, theScore Bet, Caesars, and Bet99 all carry existing AGCO licences in Ontario and are either confirmed registered or confirmed intending applicants in Alberta.
This matters practically. These operators already have Canadian compliance infrastructure, FINTRAC programs, Canadian banking integrations including Interac, AGCO-tested responsible gambling tools, and customer service setups for Canadian bettors. The AGLC’s framework was explicitly modelled on Ontario’s AGCO/iGaming Ontario structure, so an operator that has been running compliantly in Ontario for several years has effectively done most of the heavy lifting already. That’s part of why the applicant list filled up so quickly after registration opened on January 13, 2026.
If you’re currently using one of those books in Alberta through the grey market, the practical effect after July 13 is a transition to a provincially regulated product. The platform will look similar, the bet types, moneyline, puck line, point spread, parlays, same-game parlays, prop bets, will all carry over. What changes is the regulatory backstop. You’ll have formal dispute resolution, player fund protections, and recourse through the AiGC’s complaints process.
For a full overview of which books are operating legally in Canadian provinces right now, see our guide to the best Canadian sportsbooks.
The Grey Market Crunch: What Happens to Books That Don’t Apply?
Alberta currently sits at an estimated 88% grey-market share of online sports betting activity, according to data from Blask, an AI analytics platform tracking Canadian market activity. The regulated Play Alberta platform holds only a small fraction of actual wagering volume. The July 13 transition is designed to flip that equation.
Any operator that has been taking bets from Alberta residents and fails to secure an AGLC licence by July 13 must shut down that activity. The AGLC transition framework requires departing operators to settle or void outstanding wagers, return player balances, and communicate account closure timelines clearly before exiting. Open futures, Oilers Stanley Cup odds, Grey Cup bets, NFL futures, are particularly at risk on platforms that don’t make the cut. When Ontario went through this transition in April 2022, most grey-market operators voided outstanding futures rather than holding them through the changeover window.
If you currently have an account with a book that hasn’t appeared on the AGLC registration list and hasn’t publicly committed to applying, the sensible move is to track communications from that operator closely and consider withdrawing open balances sooner rather than later. The list of applicants is large enough that most major books are covered, but the long tail of smaller offshore books operating in Alberta is not.
As of May 1, 2026, 30 operator sites had commenced or completed AGLC registration, and Minister Dale Nally confirmed to the Edmonton Journal that the total stood at least 32 by mid-April.
For bettors who want to get ahead of the transition now, our overview of AGCO-licensed sportsbooks in Ontario covers in detail how the Canadian regulated framework works and which books have a clean compliance record.
What This Means for Alberta Bettors
In mid-May, the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) received approval as a licensed integrity monitor for the Alberta market, as reported by Canadian Gaming Business on May 12, 2026. The IBIA’s Global Monitoring and Alert Platform will assess, detect, and report suspicious betting activity across Alberta’s licensed sportsbooks, the same function it performs in Ontario. That adds a layer of consumer-protection infrastructure over and above what individual operators self-report.
The AGLC applicant pipeline is deeper than many expected, and Alberta’s day-one sportsbook roster looks set to be significantly broader than Ontario’s was at launch four years ago. The books most Alberta sports bettors already know, FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, theScore Bet, Caesars, BetRivers, and Bet99, are either confirmed registered or formally committed to applying before July 13. If you’re an Oilers or Flames fan who bets online, the regulated market will have your books covered from day one, with better player protections attached.
Sources
- Canadian Gaming Business, “Alberta iGaming launch: 30 online sportsbooks, casinos registered for July start,” May 4, 2026. canadiangamingbusiness.com
- Canadian Gaming Business, “Alberta ramps up integrity monitoring with IBIA approval,” May 12, 2026. canadiangamingbusiness.com
- SBC Americas, “Amelco: first movers will reap rewards in Alberta’s regulated market,” May 13, 2026. sbcamericas.com
- AGLC Internet Gaming Go-Live Compliance Guide, aglc.ca
- SportsBettingCanada.io, “Alberta iGaming Launch Date Confirmed: July 13, 2026,” April 1, 2026
- SportsBettingCanada.io, “Alberta iGaming Regulations: Inside the AGLC Go-Live Compliance Guide,” March 14, 2026