Alberta Minister Accuses BCLC Chair of Being ‘Disingenuous’

The Alberta government minister who spearheaded the province’s competitive iGaming market has issued a sharp rebuttal to criticism from British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) chair Greg Moore.

“It is disingenuous for the chair of another province’s Crown gaming corporation to criticize another government’s policy decisions,” said Dale Nally, the province’s minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, to Casino.org.

Minister Rebukes BCLC Chair

Moore is the former interim president and CEO of BCLC and was appointed board chair in 2021.

Lately, Moore has published a series of social media posts critiquing the private online gaming model, including Alberta’s new iGaming market, which allows licensed private operators to compete with the government-owned PlayNow platform. 

Central to Moore’s critique is that despite a national push to “Buy Canadian” in light of an ongoing trade dispute with the Trump administration, the private model opens the door to dominance by foreign owners, especially American companies, with a “significant portion” of gambling profits heading out of the country. 

Private Operators Targeted

Moore said the private market has led to a “massive proliferation of online gambling,” with multinational operators aggressively competing for customers while prioritizing shareholder returns. He added that some operators had faced regulatory scrutiny or had been linked to illegal-market activity before entering regulated jurisdictions.

According to Moore’s analysis, posted after the Alberta iGaming market went live July 13, of the 32 private operator groups that had registered or entered the market, only 16% were clearly Canadian-owned and controlled; more than 80% were foreign-owned or jointly foreign-owned; and at least seven were controlled by U.S. parent companies.

Foreign Ownership Basis of Concern

The American-controlled companies include some of the world’s largest gambling corporations, including DraftKings, Caesars Entertainment, and PENN Entertainment, Moore said.

“These are not small companies entering Canada in search of opportunity,” wrote Moore. “They are multibillion-dollar global corporations with enormous marketing budgets, sophisticated technology platforms and significant access to capital.

“The result is a policy framework that appears to support competition but may ultimately facilitate the transfer of Canadian gambling revenue, profits, data, and economic value to foreign corporations, many of them based in the United States. This deserves closer examination.”

Moore Pushes Public Model

That contrasts with the public model, like the one in B.C., where iGaming profits from Crown corporations flow back into the province to support healthcare, education, community programs, and public services, he added.

The regulated market in Alberta has 29 iGaming sites currently accepting wagers, according to the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) site.

Moore has also critiqued Ontario’s competitive iGaming market, which launched in April 2022, and currently has 48 licensed private operators competing with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) publicly owned PROLINE+ sports betting and online casino platform. Eighty-three gaming websites are live in Ontario.

Ontario Numbers Show Scale

According to iGaming Ontario, the province’s regulated market accepted nearly $9.9 billion in wagers in July, up 4% from June. Non-adjusted gross gaming revenue surpassed $413 million, a 3% month-over-month increase.

Under Ontario’s iGaming framework, operators remit 20% of their gaming revenue to the province.

“The reality is online gambling is widely available around the world,” said Nally. “In Alberta, it was estimated that 70% of online gambling was taking place through unregulated operators with little or no player protection or social responsibility standards.

Former Loto-Québec Chair Questions Moore’s Position

“While officials in British Columbia criticize our approach, we’ve taken action to address the risks of unregulated gambling by creating a regulated system that puts player safety and social responsibility at the forefront, with publicly funded addiction treatment available to any Albertan who struggles with gambling.”

Helene Fortin, who was chair of Loto-Québec from 2008 to 2021, said in a LinkedIn post she was “surprised” by Moore’s comments. 

“Provincial governments establish public policy,” she wrote. “Lottery corporations execute the mandates they are given. Those are fundamentally different roles.”

Deloitte Industry Study

According to Fortin, Alberta’s new framework doesn’t expand online gambling. It has existed for years, including in British Columbia, she argued. The policy question was whether activity that individuals were already engaged in should be brought into a framework that includes consumer protections, responsible gaming standards, and regulatory oversight.

Fortin referenced a Deloitte study from 2024 that found regulated iGaming in Ontario supported nearly 15,000 full-time jobs, contributed approximately $2.7 billion to Ontario’s GDP, and generated over $1.24 billion in total government revenues after its second year.

Global Focus

“You also express concern about foreign ownership,” Fortin wrote. “Yet gaming has always been a global industry. Great Canadian Entertainment [which operates casinos in B.C.] is U.S.-owned, and BCLC itself partners with international companies such as Bally’s, BetMGM, Scientific Games and Kambi. 

“That is the reality of today’s gaming industry, not a flaw unique to Alberta’s model.”

Alberta, she argued, decided that regulating an existing market would better protect consumers, promote responsible gaming, and generate additional public revenues.

Industry Questions Moore’s Comments

“Reasonable people can disagree on public policy, but those debates should be grounded in facts,” said Fortin. “As Chairs of provincial lottery corporations, our responsibility is to govern our organizations and faithfully execute the mandates established by our respective governments – not to publicly criticize the policy decisions of neighbouring provinces.”

Moore’s critiques have also caught the attention of people in the iGaming industry.

“Mr. Moore should focus on British Columbia Lottery,” said an industry source. “I think it’s fair to say this type of commentary is unprecedented. No lottery corporation Chairman in Canada has ever publicly disparaged another province’s gaming framework.”