Minister Nally discusses the build-up to the anticipated July 13 launch at the SBC Summit in Canada this week
Alberta Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction of Alberta, Dale Nally, has said that the province’s upcoming regulated market has been modelled after Ontario, but would still have its own “Alberta perspective” on it.
Speaking at the SBC Summit in Canada this week ahead of the anticipated July 13 launch, Minister Nally said the province had looked at other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and Ontario, and the protections they had in place to facilitate responsible gambling while limiting unregulated gaming.
“We’ve looked at what’s going on in Ontario… I will give a shout‑out to the Ontario team. I think they’ve done a fabulous job in rolling out this responsible gambling marketplace that’s a little safer, more responsible, and you’re absolutely right, they’ve done a good job,” Minister Nally said.
Nally admitted to taking those models, preferably Ontario’s, and using them as stepping stones to create Alberta’s market, adding that they wanted to “put a bit of an Alberta perspective on it,” including the way they taxed operators as well as administered responsible gaming initiatives.
Those initiatives included strict player safeguards and systems in place to monitor suspicious betting activity.
The Minister also said that a self-exclusion program would be implemented from day one and that outpatient therapy for Albertans would be funded by a 1 per cent tax on operator revenue.
What also sets Alberta apart from Ontario is a 2 per cent deduction from operator revenue that would be directed towards the First Nations.
“It is going to more than make up for any cannibalization that happens in land-based casinos of First Nations, and it will more than make up for that, and it will also allow them to have additional funds,” Minister Nally explained.