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Alberta is exploring a domestic online poker liquidity agreement with Ontario that would let regulated players in the two provinces play at the same tables and enter the same tournaments. The provinces are discussing a memorandum of understanding, but no deal has been finalized and their player pools remain separate.

The Alberta iGaming Corporation confirmed on Oct. 19 that it was “actively looking at shared liquidity pools within Canada.” Chief executive Dan Keene said Alberta and Ontario were working toward an agreement and wanted to complete it quickly.

If implemented, the arrangement could allow operators licensed in both provinces to offer games and tournaments to players from either market. Alberta and Ontario have a combined population of more than 21 million, potentially creating deeper cash-game traffic, more tables at different stakes, and larger tournament fields and prize pools.

Those benefits would not be automatic. Participation would depend on which operators join, how provincial oversight is handled, the technical connections between networks, and the games each operator chooses to offer.

The proposal is a domestic option separate from the Supreme Court of Canada case over international liquidity. The court heard arguments Oct. 7 on Ontario’s plan to let regulated peer-to-peer games, including poker, connect with players outside Canada, then reserved judgment. AiGC has said it will assess international opportunities after the ruling, while the Criminal Code framework means Alberta and Ontario do not necessarily need to wait for that decision to pursue an interprovincial arrangement.

Ontario launched its regulated iGaming market in April 2022, initially requiring peer-to-peer operators to keep Ontario residents in a closed pool. Its August report put peer-to-peer poker wagering at about CA$122 million, just over 1% of the CA$9.74 billion wagered across the province’s regulated iGaming market.

Alberta’s regulated poker market opened Oct. 13, with 888 initially operating a locally regulated room limited to Alberta residents. As we reported Oct. 30, GGPoker withdrew from Alberta’s commercial licensing process after concluding that even a combined Alberta-Ontario pool would be too small for a sustainable top-tier room unless international pooling becomes possible.

That skepticism is shared by Sarne Lightman, managing director of NSUS Group, who said an Alberta-Ontario pool would not materially alter the current situation and would remain too small to compete with the global black market. Even so, a provincial agreement would be a concrete change from the current ring-fenced setup, provided the two regulators can settle operator participation, oversight and network arrangements.