Alberta Draws High Interest for Sports Betting RFP

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

In December of 2021, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) issued a request for proposals (RFP). The RFP was aimed at finding a pair of sports betting companies that could work with the province’s existing casino operators.

The primary goal of these two partnerships would be the development of land-based and online sportsbooks. The original due date to respond was Jan. 31. That window was then extended to Feb. 14 due to a “high amount of interest” in the Alberta market. This was according to an agency spokesperson.

The AGLC wanted to give every potential bidder enough time to comply with the request. The initial list contains some heavy US hitters such as FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook.

However, the top operators in the US have been joined by some international players such as IGT and Kambi. Also in the mix are a few home-grown entities such as PointsBet and other Canadian lottery corporations.

PointsBet has gone as far as announcing that Alberta may be a possible expansion point for the company’s digital sports betting operations.

Along with Ontario, Alberta is a Canadian province with strong interest in expanding its commercial sports betting and iGaming industry.

Lottery corporations owned by provincial governments have controlled legal sports betting and iGaming in the past. A 2021 change in law paving the way for legal single-event sports betting in Canada has changed the landscape of the entire industry.

The ALGC has stated that they will continue their “vetting and evaluation processes” in the coming months. The government agency remains committed to possible expansion later in 2022. The following comments were part of a prepared statement:

“Currently, AGLC does not announce the number of organizations who submitted proposals or their identities. As AGLC awards the contracts to the successful proponents, an announcement will be made communicating the vendors to the public. That announcement is expected in the second half of 2022.”

While the wait-and-see process continues, the interest behind the recent RFP is impressive to say the least. Alberta has the fourth highest population in Canada. The idea of broadening its avenues for legal sports betting could expand to other provinces in the coming months.

The AGLC’s PlayAlberta is the only authorized source of legal sports betting in the province at this time. This is part of the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. Legal betting is available through land-based lottery retailers as well as online through the PlayAlberta site.

Every interested party in Canada has turned its immediate attention to Ontario’s planned commercial expansion. Everything remains on track for an April 4 launch date. Alberta is taking a more conservative approach to its expansion plans.

There are currently 28 land-based casinos in Alberta. The AGLC is looking for a “betting engine” to work with these casinos on both retail and online sportsbooks. The driving force is the continued loss of revenue to outside entities such as illegal bookmaking and offshore online sites.

Written by Dave Schwab, one of our US Sports Betting Industry Experts.

The featured image for this post was sourced on Wikimedia Commons and can be found here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab