Province bets on Rhodes to run gaming operation

When Len Rhodes resigned as chief executive of the EE Football Club, he never expected to end up heading the new legalized sports betting business for the province.

Rhodes has become chair of the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis control board and, along with acting president and chief executive Kandice Machado and her team, is in charge of legalized sports betting in Alberta.

Up and running for the past three weeks, the organization is expected to begin to boom as the NFL is underway and NHL teams head to training camp.

“It is inspiring to oversee an organization that delivers approximately $2 billion annually to Alberta's general revenue fund. And I also get to be involved in things I can relate to from my days with the football club, including AGLC'S introduction of online 50-50, which has taken jackpots to a whole new level in Alberta,” Rhodes said.

“It's so exciting to now have legalized sports betting in Canada. Fans can now place wagers on the Oilers, Elks, Flames and Stampeders along with several other teams on Playalberta.ca, the province's only regulated gaming site where money played in Alberta stays in Alberta.”

It is no small operation, Machado said.

“The Canadian Gaming Association estimates that more than $4 billion is gambled through sports books every year,” she said. “The AGLC expects sports betting wagers on the province's regulated gambling platform to total $3.3 billion in the first five years after the legalization of single event wagering

“We have options such as money line, point spread, over/under and props for NHL, CFL, NFL, MLB, NBA, European soccer, college football and much more. As of the launch on Aug. 30, we offer approximately 550 leagues and tournaments. We look forward to adding more leagues and betting offers as we continue to build out the site. As expected, the most volume is coming through the NFL. But MLB is also quite popular right now with the run the Toronto Blue Jays have been on.

“The NFL will always be a volume driver for online sports betting but we are very excited to shine a light on our local teams through our CFL offerings. We currently offer 17 different types of bets on CFL games,” Machado added.

“We expect Albertans will be enthusiastic to place bets on the NHL now that the NHL season is about to begin.”

This is just the beginning, Machado insists.

“The AGLC is in the planning process for retail sports betting and possible mobile extension that we anticipate will open in 2022. We will be working with our stakeholders to establish a retail sports betting market through existing land-based casinos and racing entertainment centres throughout the province.”

Meanwhile, Rhodes has had a happy landing.

“My 50-50 experience from football certainly came in handy when AGLC made the decision to authorize the transformation to legalizing the online version,” he said.

“COVID-19 threw a curve at many charities and sports teams that rely on 50-50 for their foundations. AGLS'S management team executed the changes in record time, allowing many charities to literally survive the pandemic,” added the former chief executive of the team that developed the 50-50 into a phenomenon that paid winners six-figure prize money and raised close to a million dollars a season for the Golden Bears, Wildcats, Huskies and minor football.