Alberta court upholds AGLC refusal to let two racinos add table games
Century Mile and Century Downs had asked to convert their racing entertainment centre licences to casino licences with 10 tables each.
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An Alberta judge has dismissed a bid by two racetrack casinos to overturn the province's refusal to let them add table games.
Century Mile Inc., which runs Century Mile Racetrack and Casino, and United Horsemen of Alberta Inc., which runs Century Downs Racetrack and Casino, sought judicial review of a decision by the board of the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC). Justice M. Kraus of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta dismissed the application in reasons dated Dec. 12, 2025.
The two operators applied in February 2021 to convert their racing entertainment centre licences into casino licences by adding 10 table games at each track. The court noted the request was new: the AGLC had never handled such a conversion and had no specific process for it, so it used a best-fit approach based on its rules for casino expansions.
Revenue and charity concerns
Both host municipalities, Leduc County and Rocky View County, sent letters of support. But the AGLC received 12 objections, 10 of them from casino owners, host First Nations and related charities. In November 2021 the AGLC board chair told the applicants the proposals would not go ahead. The reasons included an estimated loss of about $12 million a year in slot revenue to the AGLC and the province, and projected cannibalization of 39 per cent of the proposed gaming revenue, hurting existing operators and charities. A board panel confirmed the refusal in April 2022.
The racinos argued that only the views of the local municipalities should count as community input, and that the board could not revisit issues already assessed at the first stage. The judge rejected both points, finding the board's broad reading of community reasonable and noting nothing in the rules barred it from reconsidering earlier factors.
Enoch Cree Nation, whose reserve lands border Leduc County and the Century Mile site and which owns River Cree Resort and Casino, intervened in support of the AGLC along with Mechet Charities and River Cree Enterprises. The judge found that including First Nations casino operators in the consultation was reasonable.
"The Application for Judicial Review is dismissed," the decision concludes.