Premier Danielle Smith and Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia

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The Alberta government is expecting a $76-million payday, thanks to gambling.

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Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said that’s the money the new privately operated iGaming market, which launches July 13, will make for the province in its first year.

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However, he also said it’s not about the revenue — it’s about protecting players.

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“We know that gambling will never be safe, it will never be responsible,” Nally said. “But there are ways to make it a little safer, and there are ways to make it a little more responsible.”

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At least 46 operators have signed up ahead of the launch, including American heavy hitters of the online casino industry, like BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel, U.K. gaming giant Bet365 and a few Canadian providers.

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It comes as Alberta, like other markets, is adapting to a rapidly changing gambling landscape, dominated and accelerated by large global and American providers in the wake of a pivotal 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision on sports betting.

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Sports wagering in Alberta has been legally allowed at sanctioned brick-and-mortar retailers and a sole government-run website, PlayAlberta, regulated by the province.

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DraftKings director of race and sportsbook operations, Johnny Avello, an industry veteran of 47 years, recalls a time when options in most places were restricted to in-person gambling and how apps have become a “game changer” for sports wagers and gambling.

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After a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which paved the way for individual states to impose their own rules on sports betting, the market for online casinos and sports-betting providers exploded. DraftKings was among the first operators in the U.S. to launch a legal mobile sportsbook outside of Nevada as more individual states began to legalize sports wagers. Since then, the company has been at the spearhead of online sports betting and will be launching its products in Alberta in July.

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Avello said the apps removed barriers for people to make bets and, when it comes to sports, gambling has heightened the excitement for fans and thus the entertainment.

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“You’re getting more options than you’ve ever had before to make a wager,” Avello said.

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But that shockwave of growing online gambling platforms initially hit Canadian regulators hard. Players began regularly accessing unregulated offshore providers, often referred to as the grey market, which Nally has said accounted for around 70 per cent of the market in Alberta.

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In 2021, the federal government made changes which legalized single-event sports betting in the country. Following that, Ontario was the first province to pioneer an iGaming market with private operators.