Alberta has a the whole suite of gambling available! Perhaps not as glamorous and concentrated as the Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, it nevertheless, has all the fun and excitement that anyone would want.
Alberta is located South West of Canada and is a land bound province. It has over 26 land based casinos, all of various sizes. You will find that every casino usually offers the entire range of gaming, including slots, table games, poker rooms and some even have bingo halls, keno and lottery.
Throughout the province you will also find small outlets that offer VLT’s, sell lottery tickets, run bingo games for charity and organise raffles for fund raising.
Horse racing and sports betting is permitted in Alberta.
Key Points:
- The Western Canada Lottery Commission (WCLC), is the only legal entity to be permitted to offer provincial lottery products, which includes sports betting.
- Licenses are provided to charitable or religious organisations to operator land based casinos and slots venues. Charitable or religious organisations must meet the requirement of proceeds being used for charitable or religious purposes. VLTs, table games, poker and slots are authorised within charitable casinos.
- Provincial law does not expressly prohibit online gaming but does prohibit onshore online casino operators from accepting Canadian Players. As such, there are, no provincial regulated onshore online casino operators. However offshore online casinos accept players from Alberta.
- The provincial gaming regulations are monitored and enforced by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission.
- The minimum gambling age is 18.
Best Alberta Online Casinos
Alberta Online Casinos
Online gambling is legal and permitted in Alberta by offshore online casinos. No online casinos, however, are operated onshore by the government or by any local Canadian operator.
As such, all online casinos are run by offshore operators. Online gambling is booming in the province, with gaming turnover exceeding $74.1m in 2018 alone for online table games.
Overview of Alberta Casinos
Calgary Casinos
Cash Casino
4040 Blackfoot Trail SE Calgary, Alberta
This is a fantastic little casino offering over 500 slot machines. A wide variety of table games that includes all the favourites. This casino is open each day with table games open from midday to 3am and slots from 10am to 3am. They also have a poker room with regular tournaments being held.
Slots: They have all the slot machines that could possibly want. No inter-lined, but huge progressive jackpots. Plenty of VLT’s and the latest Vegas themed slots.
Table games: Your favourite table games can be found right here. They include: Blackjack, Roulette, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Pai Gow, Baccarat and Craps.
Poker room: The poker room is extremely popular, with tournaments each day starting at 10am, with the last session at 7pm.
Cowboys Casino
421 12th Ave. SE, Calgary, Alberta
Come and enjoy Cowboys Casino! Not big, to say the least, but small, personable and relaxing. They offer over 33 tables with a variety of 7 different games, catering for both the beginners and the experienced. Slot machines are contemporary and offer all the popular themes that Players want. There are over 350 machines to play at, ranging from 1c to $5 denominations. In addition there is a poker room with 12 tables. Cowboys Casino have got it all! But in a small scale.
Grey Eagle Casino
3777 Grey Eagle Dr & Glenmore Trail SW, Calgary, Alberta
Fly and win like a Grey Eagle at the Grey Eagle Casino Resort. With a gaming floor that spans over 84,000 sq ft that includes table games, slot machines and a poker room that is open 24 hours every day!
Slots: There are over 900 slot and video game machines. A wide range of denominations from the cents to the one dollar.
Table games: Over 40 tables are available offering Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and Craps.
Bingo: There aren’t that many casino’s that offer bingo anymore, but you will be able to find it here! And on offer every day! Monies raised is donated for not for profit organisations and charities.
Deerfoot Inn & Casino
11500 35 St SE #1000, Calgary, Alberta
Not only Players but also families love this casino cum resort. A massive array of gaming, but also a fantastic entertainment centre and facilities such as a massive indoor pool with water slides. The hotel caters for over 188 rooms, has conference centres/convention centres and ample car parking.
Slots: There are over 800 slot and video gaming machines! This casino, by far, has one of the most slot machines available for Players in Alberta.
Table games: 27 live table games offering Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, EZ Baccarat.
Poker room: 10 tables are available for playing poker!
Edmonton Casinos
River Cree Resort & Casino
300 E Lapotac Blvd, Edmonton, Alberta
Cree me a River! Sorry, I just had to write that pun. River Cree is the largest casino in Alberta in terms of gaming, and that is nothing to cry about. Over 1,350 slot machines and 40 tables, this casino has formidable size that provides that Vegas touch.
A recently added non smoker area, includes over 400 slots and 14 table games. So be not afraid of coming out like a cigarette.
They have a poker room in which you can reserve your seating via an App. It can’t get much more convenient than that! There are over 12 tables in the poker room.
Century Casino
Century Casinos is a corporation that owns and runs several Century Casinos located throughout Canada and the US. Established in 1992, it was floated on the Nasdaq in 1994 and is a publicly listed company.
The Century Casinos in Canada include Century Casino at Edmonton, Calgary and St. Albert.
Edmonton – Established in 2006. Century Casino Edmonton is the leading casino for the Century group. Offering a wide variety of slots, table games and poker. Their facilities include free parking that is heated. It is open throughout the year from 9am to 3am, 7 days a week.
Calgary – Established in 1996. Century Casino Calgary is arguably the second best of the three in Alberta in the Century Group. Slightly smaller in size than the Edmonton, it has a smaller selection of slots and table games. Nevertheless, this was the first of Century Casinos which began a wining formula for Century.
St. Albert – Established in 2016. The latest and coolest of Century Casinos. The St. Albert Century Casino is modern and has that contemporary feel. State of the art gaming, with a massive car park. It’s super convenient for all Players.
Kananaskis Casinos
Stoney Nakoda Casino
888 Nakoda Way, Kananaskis, Alberta
This casino is open 24 hours 7 days a week! And is the only casino in the Rocky Mountains.
Slots: Over 250 slot machines with an array of variety.
Table games: All the popular table games are provided, they include: Blackjack, Casino War, Roulette, Baccarat, Texas Hold’em, Ultimate Texas Hold’em and Spanish 21. There is also complimentary coffee and tea, unfortunately alcoholic beverages are not free.
Poker room: There is a poker room with daily poker tournaments organised.
Hybrid gaming: The only casino in Alberta with hybrid gaming! What the heck is Hybrid gaming, you may ask. At an electronic terminal, the Player is able to view up to four live table games at once. And from this terminal the Player can play on ALL four live tables at once! How is this possible? Through the state of the art touch screen and viewing technology. You no longer need to be physically seated at each table live. You can now play simultaneously four live table games at once!
Casino opening hours differ between slots and table games.
The slot machines are open from 10am to 12am Sunday to Wednesday. Whilst Thursday to Saturday are open longer from 10am to 2am.
Table game hours fluctuate depending on the day.
- Monday to Wednesday: 4pm to 12am
- Thursday: 4pm to 2am
- Friday – Saturday: 4pm to 2am
- Sunday: 2pm to 12am
Alberta Slot Machines
In Alberta it is not illegal to import slot machines. This may seem like great news for those who are slot machines collectors, however, the bad news is that it cannot be operated. Technically the slot machine must remain unplugged and not be used to remain within the law. I do find it hard to believe that this law can be properly enforced and should the machine remain in an operational mode there would be very little risk of facing any penalties.
Bingo
Bingo Halls are licensed through the AGLC (Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis) Government Agency. There are two types of licenses available: Class A – Charity groups that form an organisation; and Class B – a corporate partnership.
Operating a Bingo Hall requires a license application every two years and the annual submission of the Executive Committee member’s details.
Interac Payment Methods
Gradually becoming more widely known, is that the commonly used payment method Interac (Interac e-Transfer and Interac Debit) can be used as a payment method at the many casinos in Alberta as well as for online casinos. Using Interac will make depositing a lot quicker and reliable as it is the most trusted and efficient payment method created specifically for the Canadian banking system, by Canadians – Gigadat.
Alberta Online Gambling Developments
Current State: Alberta has a very interesting gaming framework. Only charitable or religious organisations may be permitted to apply for licenses to operate gaming activity. There are five horse race tracks that are currently operational in the province. Only one is privately owned, whilst the remaining four are operated by Horse Racing Alberta. None of these organisations are permitted to offer any online gaming activity, however a Request for Proposal has been issued by the AGLC to short list potential online casino operators.
History: In 2015 The AGLC requested proposals from vendors interested in operating the provinces online gambling activities. Recommendations were proposed and collated by the AGLC and delivered to the Ministry of Finance for review in April 2015.
In January 2019, the AGLC issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) to operators to provide online lottery and casino gaming for the province. The AGLC declared that it would select an operator by mid 2019, with a framework in place for 2020.