Alberta has its first regulated online poker room. 888 launched a locally licensed poker platform in the province on Tuesday, October 13, the day a three-month grace period for offshore operators expired, Poker Industry PRO reported. On the same day, PokerStars stopped dealing cards to Albertans altogether. The new Alberta tables are walled off from the rest of the world, and from Ontario.

The result is a split that Ontario players will recognise. Canada now has two provincial markets with regulated private poker, two closed player pools and, for the moment, no agreement to join them. The company that opened the first room in each province is the same one: 888 was also first to launch regulated online poker in Ontario, according to Poker Industry PRO.

A Launch the Industry Did Not Expect

The move caught observers off guard. Poker Industry PRO said it had predicted an online poker blackout in Alberta after the deadline, and had assumed poker would not be part of 888’s regulated launch. Late last week, both PokerStars and 888 told customers that their international services would close to Alberta.

888 instead went live with its Alberta poker product on Tuesday morning, European time. Players were told to download new software and open new accounts. “Starting today, Alberta players will migrate to a separated pool (only Alberta, not with Ontario) according to the new Alberta regulations,” an 888 spokesperson told Poker Industry PRO.

Pokerfuse described 888 as the “first and only operator” offering regulated online poker in Alberta, with a full suite of games. It noted that poker had been missing when the market opened on July 13 because Alberta’s rules require a segregated player pool. Our report from the first week described that gap.

PokerStars Walks Away, for Now

PokerStars took the opposite route. According to CanadianPoker.com, the operator told Alberta customers that its poker service would end on October 13 and gave no date for a return. PokerStars Sports and PokerStars Casino had already left the province on July 13.

What PokerStars told Alberta players

  • Account balances remain available for withdrawal.
  • Entries to tournaments that had not started are refunded.
  • Non-promotional rewards are converted to cash.
  • The block covers players physically in Alberta and accounts registered to an Alberta address.

PokerStars’ parent, Flutter Entertainment, already operates in Alberta through FanDuel. Poker Industry PRO said that if PokerStars poker returns to the province, it will be on the FanDuel brand, though there is “no sign it will do so soon.” That mirrors Ontario, where the room now runs as PokerStars on FanDuel.

The Deadline and Who Enforces It

Alberta opened its regulated iGaming market on Monday, July 13. Operators must register with the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) and sign an agreement with the Crown-owned Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC). Sites already serving Albertans could ask for up to three months to finish the move. That window closed on Tuesday.

The AiGC has been clear about the rules for latecomers. “In the event an operator’s ‘go live’ date occurs after October 13, 2026, the operator must cease all unregulated market activities until the date they go live,” spokesperson Amanda Ash told Covers. The province has said it will take enforcement action against sites that keep serving Albertans without a licence, Canada Gaming Review reported.

GGPoker remains on the sidelines. It received AGLC registration on Wednesday, August 12, but has not launched an Alberta product, as we noted in our August report. Our Alberta launch tracker follows each operator’s status.

Why Ontario Players Should Watch

Alberta has fewer than five million residents, less than a third of Ontario’s population. A standalone Alberta pool will be thin, particularly for tournaments and higher-stakes cash games. That is why both provinces have discussed a memorandum of understanding to combine their poker players, as we reported in May. No agreement has been announced.

For 888, a combined pool would join two of its own networks. The operator has said shared liquidity between its Ontario and Alberta players would meaningfully improve the experience in both provinces, according to Pokerfuse. Ontario’s market could use the help. Peer-to-peer poker in the province took CA$122 million in wagers in August, down 19 per cent from a year earlier, according to our analysis of iGaming Ontario data.

A separate track runs through the Supreme Court of Canada, which heard Ontario’s case for sharing tables with players abroad on Wednesday, October 7. Alberta intervened in support of Ontario. The court reserved its decision, as we reported last week. The full history is in our shared liquidity timeline.

What Changes in Ontario

Nothing, today. 888poker Ontario continues to run its own pool for players physically located in Ontario, and Alberta players cannot sit at those tables. Every AGCO-registered poker room in Ontario remains Ontario-only. If the two provinces sign a pooling deal, 888 would be the first operator positioned to link the two pools, since it is the only one licensed and dealing poker in both. OntarioPoker.com will report any agreement when it is announced.

Reporting draws on Poker Industry PRO (Nick Jones, October 13, 2026), Pokerfuse (October 13, 2026), CanadianPoker.com (Bjorn Lindberg, October 12, 2026), Covers, Canada Gaming Review and prior OntarioPoker.com coverage. Quotations are as reported by those outlets. The illustration is AI-generated for editorial purposes. Online poker in Ontario is limited to players aged 19 or over who are physically located in the province. Free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day from ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600.