GGPoker Pulls the Plug on Alberta Before Its Poker Room Even Opens

GGPoker went through the door, took a look around and decided not to stay. 

After securing regulatory registration in Alberta this summer, the operator has abandoned plans to launch a local poker room, arguing that the province simply cannot provide enough players under its current rules.

Even adding Ontario would not change GG’s mind.

This story started very differently. When Alberta opened its regulated online gambling market in July, GGPoker stopped serving players there. That was expected. Operators hoping to remain in the province needed to move into the new legal framework.

GG appeared to be doing exactly that. By August, GG International Limited had been registered with Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis. It still needed to complete the commercial side of the process, but the direction seemed obvious: GGPoker was preparing to return.

And then nothing launched. This week, GGPoker made the decision not to continue with the Alberta process because an Alberta-only poker network is too small to justify the operation.

That leaves GG in a slightly unusual position. It has not failed to win approval. It has not been pushed out by the regulator. It has looked at the market after registration and decided it does not want it. At least not yet.

The operator says international shared liquidity could change the calculation. A combined Alberta-Ontario pool apparently would not. 

For casino operators, a ring-fenced market is inconvenient. For poker operators, it can be fatal. Poker depends on other players. Take away the international field and suddenly every cash stake, sit-and-go and tournament is drawing from the same small local population.

That is manageable hurdle for some operators, including 888poker, which has already launched there.

GGPoker, however, runs some of the largest online tournament series in the world. Its product makes a lot more sense when thousands of players can share the same lobby than when a single province has to populate it alone.