gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

1982 Criminal Code amended allowing people to phone-in horse racing bets to the horse race course of
an authorized race-track association and to permit people at a horse race track to bet on horse races
occurring at other tracks (‘intertrack betting’).
1989 Criminal Code amended to permit off-track horse race betting in specially designated betting
theatres owned or leased by an approved race track association in a province that has issued a
licence to that association for the betting theatre. Bets are transmitted electronically to the track.
1990 Teletheatre horse race betting first introduced in Alberta. The revenue from this ‘simulcast’ betting
(especially foreign simulcast) soon overtakes revenue from live horse race betting.
1996 The Alberta Racing Corporation Act creates the Alberta Racing Corporation (ARC) (replacing the
Western Canadian Racing Association) whose mandate is to manage and regulate the Alberta
horse racing industry as well as to revitalize it.
Slot machines are introduced to Northlands Park in Edmonton as part of the Racing Industry
Renewal Initiative. This is the province’s first ‘Racing Entertainment Centre’ (REC). Slots are
later added to Whoop-Up Downs in Lethbridge in 1997 and Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie in
2003. The financial viability of horse racing becomes very much dependent on this revenue.
1998 Alberta Racing Corporation restricts horse race betting to people 18 and older.
2002 The Alberta Racing Corporation is replaced with Horse Racing Alberta (HRA), an expanded and
restructured governing body whose mandate continues to be to both regulate and revitalize the
horse racing industry.
2003 Federal agriculture minister makes a rule change permitting horse-racing bets to be placed, not just
by telephone, but by “any telecommunication device.” As a consequence, in January 2004,
Woodbine Entertainment, a Toronto based horse-racing track operator, began accepting online bets
from across Canada (HorsePlayer Interactive).
2008 Calgary’s Stampede Park closes for horse racing on November 28 after 118 years of operation.
2009 Alberta Downs racetrack opens in Lacombe on April 18.
The main indices that speak to changes in the actual availability of horse race betting over time
concern the: a) total number of horse race tracks; b) total number of live race days per year;
and c) total number of teletheatres in operation.
Number of Horse Race Tracks
Formal ‘course’ racing began in the late 1880s with the establishment of permanent tracks in
Northlands Park in Edmonton and the Calgary Exhibition/Stampede. Cochrane added a horse
race track in 1894 and Millarville added one in 1905. ‘Community tracks’ or ‘bush tracks’ have
existed in many other locations throughout the province, particularly for quarter horse racing:
Drumheller, Enoch, Grande Prairie, Hannah, High River, Hobbema, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat,
Milo, Olds, Red Deer, Standoff, Stettler, Taber, Teepee Creek, Vegreville, Westlock. However,
most of these tracks are no longer operational.
For the past 10 years there have only been 5 tracks holding regular racing: Northlands Park in
Edmonton, Calgary Stampede Park (closed to horse racing in 2008); Whoop-Up Downs in
Lethbridge; Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie; and the Millarville track (operational only on
Canada Day). A new track opened in Lacombe in 2009. Financial problems have impeded the
development of another potential track near Balzac (Cross Iron Mills).
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