GGPoker Secures Alberta iGaming License From AGLC
The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission issued GGPoker an iGaming operator license on August 12, 2026, clearing the province's regulator to approve the site's return to Alberta's regulated iGaming market.
GGPoker has not yet relaunched there, and the platform must still sign an operating agreement with the Alberta iGaming Corporation before it can offer real-money online poker games and prizes.
GGPoker went offline in Alberta on July 13, 2026, when the province's regulated online gambling market took effect. AGLC's iGaming framework gave select existing operators a three-month grace period to transition into the licensed system, and GGPoker used that window to complete its application.
A company spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business in late June that GGPoker was still working through the process; a follow-up inquiry about the license and launch timeline had not been answered as of the outlet's report on August 13.
GGPoker is owned by NSUS, the operator that bought the World Series of Poker brand from Caesars Entertainment for $500 million in 2024 and runs what is reputedly the largest online poker network in the world. GGPoker's Ontario platform is already licensed and operational as a peer-to-peer poker product in Ontario.
With the Alberta approval, GGPoker becomes the first standalone poker brand to hold a license in the province, ahead of hybrid operators that run poker as one product among several.
Liquidity Stays Fenced In For Now
As in Ontario, Alberta's regulations require operators to pool players only within the province, so GGPoker cannot yet connect its Alberta player base to its networks in other jurisdictions, including the Ontario market it already serves.
That ring-fencing has kept poker a minor vertical in Ontario, where the game accounts for roughly 1% of total iGaming handle and revenue since the province launched regulated play in 2022.
Alberta's population of about five million is under a third of Ontario's, which points to an even thinner standalone player pool at launch. Alberta's online gambling laws set the framework operators like GGPoker had to meet to qualify for a license.
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A Supreme Court Case Could Change The Math
In late 2024, Ontario's government asked the province's Court of Appeal whether it could legally connect peer-to-peer poker and daily fantasy sports players to jurisdictions outside Canada.
NSUS backed that position alongside PokerStars owner Flutter Entertainment and the Canadian Gaming Association.
The Court of Appeal ruled in November 2025 that such connections would be permissible, and several provincial crown lottery corporations have since appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada, with NSUS remaining a party to the case.
Alberta's government joined the appeal on the side of allowing pooled liquidity, with Attorney General Mickey Amery citing a "significant interest" in the outcome for the province's iGaming market. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on October 7, 2026.
Alberta and Ontario Are Already Talking
Alberta iGaming Corporation chief executive Dan Keene said at an SBC Summit Canada panel in Toronto in May 2026 that the two provinces are negotiating a memorandum of understanding to combine their player pools.
"We'll try and get that done as quickly as we can with our friends in Ontario," Dan Keene
GGPoker is not the only poker-focused brand pursuing the Alberta market: 888 has also secured an Alberta license and has outlined plans to launch regulated poker there through the 888poker platform it already runs in Ontario.
Two developments will shape how valuable GGPoker's new license turns out to be. Whether the operator completes its AiGC agreement and sets a relaunch date?
And whether the Alberta-Ontario liquidity talks or the Supreme Court appeal produce a pooled-player framework that would make standalone poker licenses more attractive in both provinces. Canadian Gaming Business first reported GGPoker's license on August 13, 2026.
