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Alberta opened its regulated online casino and sports betting market on July 13, 2026, and dozens of sportsbooks went live. Not one of them offers horse racing. If you want to bet a race at Century Mile, or the King's Plate from Calgary, you still do it at the track, at an off-track betting outlet, or through HPIbet.
This guide covers the Alberta options that exist today, why the new sportsbooks have no racing tab, and what the pending sale of Century Mile and Century Downs means for local racing.
Best for online racing for Albertans, from Woodbine to Gulfstream
Woodbine's racing site is the online pari-mutuel account open to Alberta residents, with more than 450 tracks and a C$2 basic minimum.
Features: More than 450 tracks · SmartPicks · Win, place, show and exotics · Age: 18+
| Option | What you get | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| At the track | Live racing at Century Mile, Century Downs, Grande Prairie and Lethbridge, plus simulcasts | Racing days vary by season |
| Off-track betting outlets | Simulcast betting on Alberta and out-of-province racing | Southern Alberta's network has been run by Century Bets since 2015 |
| HPIbet | Online pari-mutuel account with more than 450 tracks | Woodbine's racing site; open to Alberta residents |
| Alberta sportsbooks | No horse racing | Not on any regulated platform at launch |
For live betting on Alberta's own races, the track remains the best experience. For everything else, from Woodbine on a Saturday to Gulfstream in February, HPIbet is the online route.
The Criminal Code lets provinces run betting on single games, but it excludes "the making or recording of bets" on any horse race from what a province can offer. Racing can only be bet through a federally supervised pari-mutuel pool, and fixed-odds betting on horse racing is not permitted in Canada. An Alberta sportsbook cannot simply post its own odds on the Century Mile feature.
In Ontario, bet365 and OLG solved this by plugging Woodbine's pari-mutuel system into their apps. Nothing similar was ready for Alberta's launch. Paul Ryneveld of Horse Racing Alberta told Covers before the launch: "Unfortunately, when [Alberta's iGaming market] rolls out on July 13, we're not going to be on any platform." He described the industry as "in this holding pattern." Woodbine said it had held discussions, "but nothing is imminent," while remaining open to offering its platform to Alberta operators in partnership with local track owners.
The one racing-flavoured market in Alberta's regulated space comes from Play Alberta, the AGLC's site, which has offered markets on certain Calgary Stampede events, including the nightly chuckwagon races. For the province's sportsbooks, see our Alberta sportsbooks guide.
Century Mile Racetrack and Casino, near Edmonton, opened in 2019 and is Alberta's main thoroughbred track. Its 2026 meet ran through the summer, with racing on the Civic Holiday and Labour Day.
Century Downs Racetrack and Casino, in north Calgary, combines a standardbred track with a casino, restaurant and entertainment space.
Racing also runs at Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.
On September 28, 2026, Century Casinos announced an agreement to sell the racing and gaming operations of Century Mile (which it owns outright) and Century Downs (in which it holds a 75% stake) to Highfield Investment Group for about C$23.2 million. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. Both properties are expected to keep operating under the new owner.
Since February 2022, Century's two tracks have sold their race pictures and data to licensed fixed-odds bookmakers overseas, including in Australia and Asia, through BetMakers' Global Racing Network. That brings money into Alberta racing, but those fixed-odds markets are for bettors abroad. In Canada the races are bet pari-mutuel only.
Century Bets began running pari-mutuel off-track betting in southern Alberta on May 4, 2015, after Horse Racing Alberta awarded it a licence in December 2014. The company was set up by Century Casinos (75%) and the Rocky Mountain Turf Club (25%). At launch it supplied betting content and live video to 15 off-track betting outlets in southern Alberta, drawing on agreements with close to 100 racetracks in North America and abroad.
Off-track outlets are the simplest way to bet a race in person away from the track: walk in, watch the simulcast and bet at the window or terminal. Hours and race menus vary by location. The Century sale announcement did not say whether Century Bets is part of the deal.
HPIbet, run by Woodbine Entertainment in Ontario, is the online racing account Albertans can open today. You deposit first and bet from your balance, the standard advance-deposit model in Canada, and your bets go into the same pools as everyone else's, commingled with U.S. pools on many races.
Read our full HPIbet review. Woodbine's simplified Dark Horse Bets app was not offered in Alberta when it launched in 2020, and it closed nationwide in August 2025.
Alberta's racing industry receives none of the province's online gambling revenue, though tracks do receive money from slot machines at their Racing Entertainment Centres. That is one reason Horse Racing Alberta wants racing on the regulated sportsbooks.
For illustration: if the final odds on your horse are 4-1, a C$2 win ticket returns C$10.00, which is 5.00 in decimal odds (+400).
The legal gambling age in Alberta is 18. GameSense, Alberta's responsible-gambling program, has advice on budgets and how betting really works, and Alberta's Addiction Helpline is available at 1-866-332-2322. The Responsible Gambling Council offers independent support nationally. Use deposit limits and self-exclusion tools, and step away if racing stops being enjoyable.
Offers, codes, fees and state lists are checked against the operators’ own pages and state or federal regulators. Last checked October 24, 2026.
