Alberta iGaming Market Opening: What Registered Operators Must Know About the AGLC SRIG Framework

Alberta’s Regulated iGaming Market: Context and Structure

Alberta is the second Canadian province to establish a fully regulated, competitive private-operator iGaming market, following Ontario’s model launched in 2022. The legal foundation rests on the iGaming Alberta Act and the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act (Alberta), with day-to-day regulatory authority vested in the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC). The market operates as a regulated online lottery scheme, a structural designation that carries specific legal significance under Canadian criminal law and determines how private operators participate.

The AGLC published its Standards and Requirements for Internet Gaming (SRIG), signed by the Board Chair and dated January 14, 2026, as the primary technical and compliance instrument governing all registrants in the scheme. Compliance officers preparing applications or advising clients on Alberta market entry should treat the ‘SRIG’ as their primary operational reference, alongside the two enabling statutes named above. Operators familiar with Ontario’s framework under the AGCO Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming will recognise the broad architecture, but Alberta’s SRIG contains Alberta-specific requirements and a distinct institutional structure that must not be conflated with Ontario’s regime.  You can see those differences in our AGLC Standards Explorer.

The Dual-Authority Commercial Structure: AGLC and AiGC

A defining feature of Alberta’s market that distinguishes it from Ontario is the explicit role of Alberta’s iGaming Corporation (AiGC). Under the SRIG Section 2, Registered Operators must enter into a commercial agreement with either AiGC or the Commission itself in order to provide or operate an iGaming site named on their registration. This is a threshold requirement: no commercial activity on a registered site is permissible without that agreement in place.

In practice, operators should treat the AiGC relationship as a commercial and structural prerequisite to any compliance work downstream. The distinction between agreeing with AiGC versus directly with the Commission is not fully elaborated in the publicly available SRIG text, and operators should consult qualified legal counsel in Alberta to determine which pathway applies to their specific registration category and proposed commercial model before submitting any application.

Registered Operators must enter into a commercial agreement with Alberta’s iGaming Corporation (AiGC) or the Commission in order to provide or operate an iGaming site named on their registration.

This dual-authority structure means that regulatory compliance with AGLC standards and commercial compliance with AiGC terms are parallel obligations, not sequential ones. Operators who have only satisfied one of these two tracks are not in a position to lawfully operate.

Registration Categories: Operators and Goods or Services Suppliers

The SRIG distinguishes between two primary registration categories: Registered Operators and registered Goods or Services Suppliers. Both categories are bound by the general responsibilities set out in Section 2 of the SRIG, including the obligations to know applicable legislation and policies, maintain accurate records and financial control forms, and ensure all communications with AGLC or its representatives are accurate.

The supplier registration requirement carries particular weight for B2B technology providers, platform suppliers, payment processors, and any entity delivering goods or services to a Registered Operator as part of their Alberta-facing iGaming operation. The SRIG is explicit: Registered Operators and Goods or Services Suppliers must not enter into agreements or arrangements with any unregistered person who is providing goods or services that would otherwise require registration in Alberta. This provision mirrors the approach taken in Ontario under the relevant code provision of the AGCO Registrar’s Standards, and operators with existing Ontario supply chains should not assume their Alberta supply chain is automatically compliant without independently verifying each supplier’s Alberta registration status.

Cessation of Unregulated Activity

The SRIG contains a clear and unconditional requirement that both Registered Operators and registered Goods or Services Suppliers must cease all unregulated gaming activities in Alberta’s iGaming market if those activities, to be carried out within the regulated online lottery scheme, would otherwise require registration under the iGaming Alberta Act or the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act. This provision is directed at entities that may have been accepting Alberta players through grey or offshore channels prior to the regulated market’s opening.

The practical implication is that any operator or supplier intending to seek registration in Alberta’s new market, and who has simultaneously been serving Alberta residents through an unregistered channel, must wind down that unregistered activity as a condition of operating lawfully within the regulated scheme. Operators should seek legal advice on the timing and sequencing of this cessation relative to their registration application, as the SRIG does not specify a grace period and the potential for regulatory scrutiny of prior unregulated conduct is real.

Personnel Security Screening

Section 2 of the SRIG requires that a personnel security screening process be in place for any director or officer, and any employee, agent, or consultant, at a level appropriate for the individual’s role in the organisation. The SRIG does not prescribe a single universal screening standard but instead applies a role-proportionate framework. In practice, operators should calibrate screening depth against seniority, access to player data and funds, and involvement in regulated operations. Compliance officers, key management personnel, and those with system-level access should expect deeper scrutiny than peripheral contractors.

Industry consensus, based on comparable frameworks in Ontario and other Canadian provincial markets, is that operators should document their screening methodology formally, retain screening records, and be prepared to provide AGLC with evidence of the process on request. The SRIG’s broader cooperation obligations (discussed below) imply that AGLC may ask to review screening records as part of an inspection.

Notification Obligations for Criminal Charges and Convictions

The SRIG imposes an immediate notification obligation on Registered Operators and Goods or Services Suppliers when any of their officers, shareholders, directors, or owners are charged with or convicted of a specified list of offences. The list is notably broad and includes offences under the Criminal Code (Canada), the Excise Act (Canada), the Food and Drug Act (Canada), the Income Tax Act (Canada), the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (Canada) (with a carve-out for simple possession under Schedule II), the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act (Canada), foreign statutes substantially similar to any of the above, the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act (Alberta), and the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Regulation (Alberta).

Registered Operators and registered Goods or Services Suppliers must notify AGLC immediately if any of its officers, shareholders, directors or owners are charged with or convicted of an offence under the Criminal Code (Canada), the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act (Canada), the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act (Alberta), or a foreign Act substantially similar to those listed.

The trigger is charge or conviction, not final adjudication. Operators with internationally distributed ownership structures or holding companies in multiple jurisdictions face particular exposure here. Compliance teams should establish a monitoring and escalation protocol that reaches across all relevant entities in the corporate group, not merely the immediate Alberta registrant. Counsel familiar with both Canadian and relevant foreign criminal law should be engaged to assess whether any foreign charge falls within the “substantially similar” limb of this obligation.

Inspector Cooperation and Access Rights

Section 2 of the SRIG grants AGLC inspectors significant access rights and places corresponding obligations on registrants. Registered Operators, Goods or Services Suppliers, and their employees are required to cooperate fully with AGLC inspectors and police officers. On request from an inspector or AGLC employee, registrants must assist the inspector in carrying out an inspection, provide access to systems and system information, records, documents, books of account and receipts, and provide a location where these materials may be inspected, audited, examined, or copied. Inspectors also have the authority to interview the registrant or its agents.

Operators should note that the cooperation obligation extends to police officers, not only AGLC regulatory inspectors. This reflects the public-law character of Alberta’s gaming regulatory framework and aligns with the criminal law underpinning of the regulated online lottery scheme. Operators should ensure their internal incident response and legal hold protocols are calibrated to accommodate AGLC inspection requests without delay, and that staff who may interface with inspectors have received appropriate training on cooperation obligations.

Accuracy of Records and Communications

A foundational but often underweighted obligation in the SRIG is the requirement that all records, reports, and financial control forms be complete and accurate, and that all communications, whether written or oral, with AGLC or its representatives be accurate. This is not merely an administrative standard. Inaccurate communications with a regulator carry serious enforcement consequences in any mature gaming jurisdiction, and Alberta’s framework is no exception.

Compliance officers should implement a formal AGLC communications protocol, designating who is authorised to communicate with AGLC, requiring review of written submissions before dispatch, and retaining records of all regulatory correspondence. Given that the SRIG imposes obligations on both Operators and Goods or Services Suppliers, supplier-facing contracts should also address accuracy obligations for any information the supplier provides to the Operator for onward submission to AGLC.

Comparison with Ontario’s Framework and Key Divergences

Operators already registered with the AGCO in Ontario will find the overall architecture of Alberta’s SRIG recognisable. Both frameworks operate as regulated online lottery schemes under provincial authority derived from the federal Criminal Code. Both require registration of operators and suppliers, impose responsible gambling obligations, and vest inspection and enforcement powers in the provincial regulator.  You can see just how similar these two jurisdictions are in our Jurisdiction Comparison Tool.

However, the AiGC structure in Alberta creates a commercial intermediary layer that does not have a direct equivalent in Ontario’s iGaming Ontario model, and the specific legislative references in the SRIG’s notification obligations, including the iGaming Alberta Act itself, are Alberta-specific. Operators should not assume that their Ontario compliance programme is portable to Alberta without a jurisdiction-specific gap analysis. Qualified legal counsel with knowledge of both provincial frameworks should be engaged before market entry.

Key Resources

AGLC Standards and Requirements for Internet Gaming (SRIG), Section 2 : Regulatory Oversight, issued January 14, 2026, Board Chair authority. Primary compliance reference for all Registered Operators and Goods or Services Suppliers in Alberta’s iGaming market.

iGaming Alberta Act (Alberta): The primary enabling statute for Alberta’s regulated iGaming market. Operators should review this alongside the SRIG for the full legislative framework.

Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act (Alberta): The broader gaming regulatory statute within which the iGaming market sits. Referenced throughout the SRIG as a source of obligations and definitions.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC): aglc.ca. Official regulator and source for registration applications, policy updates, and SRIG amendments.