PointsBet Gears Up To Crush Alberta’s Online Casino Scene
Posted on: March 24, 2026, 02:30h.
Last updated on: March 24, 2026, 02:46h.
- PointsBet Canada set up Alberta pre-registration in January
- Interview with Brooke Hilton, PointsBet Canada Head of Casino, about plans for an Alberta launch
- Online casino currently at 86% market share in Ontario
One message that came out of PointsBet’s H1 FY26 financial results was the clear domination in terms of the company’s online casino performance in Ontario. Based on that, the company’s Head of Casino, Brooke Hilton, said PointsBet Canada has a plan in place to hit the ground running in Alberta, projecting that online casino betting interest in that province will be equally robust.
Casino Dominates in Ontario
According to those financials, total sports betting and igaming year-over-year Ontario revenue grew by 35% (CAD $22.2 million, for the six months ending Dec. 31, 2025), with igaming net win jumping 58% (CAD $15.6 million). The Ontario performance fuelled PointsBet’s 4% overall year-over-year revenue increase. The company is based in Australia.
PointsBet has been licensed and live in Ontario since that market launched April 4, 2022. Pre-registration for Alberta players went live last month.
Richer Province
Alberta has a population of five million to Ontario’s 16 million. But Alberta’s population is younger, with a higher GDP per capita, connected to ebbs and flows of the oil and gas industry. Projections have annual revenue for the igaming market at maturity to eclipse $700 million.
Alberta doesn’t have the number of pro sports teams as Ontario does, and Ontario has shown the popularity of betting on home teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Maple Leafs. But Alberta is an intense hockey market, with huge followings for the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, and there’s the popularity of the CFL as well, with teams in Edmonton and Calgary.
$22.2 Million in Revenue for H1 FY2026
The dominance of online casino in Ontario has been an eyebrow-raiser – 86% market share in total cash wagers (77% for non-adjusted gross gaming revenue) according to iGaming Ontario’s latest market report, for January.
Casino.org spoke with Hilton about the company’s plans to hit the market hard when the checkered flag goes down.
“If we look at the entire Canadian landscape, it’s all shared a very similar history,” she said. “So if someone has been successful in Ontario, it’s very possible that they can also have a successful online casino in Alberta as well. There’s been shared history due to the prevalent grey market, and we’ve been marketed heavily since the early 2000s, players engaging with really strong, mature products out of Europe.”
Educated Player Base
That means a sophisticated player base with high expectations about product and content offerings. Still, Albertans are different than Ontarians, when it comes to culture and values. Albertans have a rugged, independent streak, conservative, with more of an outdoorsy, frontier-like energy, while Ontario leans more progressive, cosmopolitan, diversity, artsy, and intellectual, with a big city cultural buzz.
“A lot of brands will have to take note of the Alberta market,” she said. PointsBet Canada definitely is. We’ve spoken to their people about the potential of the Alberta market going back two years.
You definitely don’t want to have any references to Ontario, the Ontario regulator, you have to be speaking directly to Albertans,” said Hilton. “They have a bit of a chip on their shoulder, so you want to speak to them in a way that’s relevant to them.”
Canada-First Focus
So a much more younger male-dominated population, Hilton added, where’s there’s a good economy, which is also more affordable than places like Ontario and B.C., a reason why Alberta leads the way in Canada in terms of interprovincial migration.
On Day 1, Hilton said, marketing messages from PointsBet Canada will hit Albertans head on. One of her observations with the Ontario launch was that U.S.-based operators marketed with messages that were just not relevant to Canadians. Some didn’t launch with Interac, for example, as well.
“You’re redoing integrations, you’re redoing the wallet testing,” she said. “And so there is a big, up-front project.”
A wealth of offerings and bonus features only gets operators in a competitive environment like that so far. Without a strong product users drop off after the promotions have been spent. PointsBet Canada currently has 1,500 casino games available on their Ontario platform.
1,500 Games in Ontario
“We’re just looking at the regulations that came out from Alberta, last week,” she said. “And there’s some nuances that they’re calling out around game types, but by and large, 99% of [product offerings] will be the same [as Ontario].”
Canada has shown a really strong casino-first market which puts the spotlight on Hilton’s shoulders.
Everyone in this industry understands the need to evolve, innovate and challenge what is expected,” she said. “And so over the past year, we’ve really been investing in the casino side of the technology, features, promotion, mechanics and things to that degree. So we’re really going to elevate our product to be able to go after more casino-first players, in line with what the market is telling us.”
Hilton is from British Columbia. Their operations manager is from Montreal. PointsBet Canada has 60 employees based in Toronto. It’s a Canada-first focus, at a time politically when that might give them another advantage against U.S.-based operators expanding into Alberta, navigating the Canadian landscape.
Lessons from Ontario
“It’s not a nice-to-have,” said Hilton. “It’s a core factor in how you approach your conversations with your players in your marketing and communications. That’s just the sentiment these days. I think you need to live and breathe that to understand how people are thinking and what the vernacular is and understand what’s important to people.
“I know some content providers have approached me to suggest Canadian casino sections. There’s some providers that have studios across Canada. There’s one in particular, a studio in Montreal, saying all of these games were built in Canada, and then we could do a feature on those.”
A big lesson from Ontario – be more efficient and have a robust product on Day 1.
“You’re not going to be able to retain all players, and then spend too much money trying to acquire them” she said. And take a multi-pronged approach – out of 81 gaming websites in Ontario, just seven are sportsbook-only.
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