Reel Keeper

What is Reel Keeper?

“We are committed to minimising the impact on our people and are exploring all avenues to reduce the number of redundancies,” the spokesperson said. “As a first step, we are planning a programme of voluntary redundancies.

“Our colleagues are our priority. We understand the concerns many will have. Impacted staff have been informed and are being fully supported throughout this process.”

Bet365 noted the impact of the UK government’s near doubling of the remote gaming duty, which increased from 21% to 40% on 1 April this year.

What is Reel Keeper?

“Standing still was not the responsible choice,” Nally said when the market launched. “Albertans were already gambling. What we’re putting in place is a regulated market that will put player safety and player responsibility first.”

“At the end of the day, this is not about revenue. This is about channelization,” Nally added. “How much of that black market can we channelize into the legal, regulated market?”

According to Nally, approximately 70% of online gambling in Alberta occurred through unregulated operators prior to the July 13 launch, with the remaining 30% flowing through Play Alberta, the province’s sole legal platform at the time.

What is Reel Keeper?

One of the operator’s most significant challenges is the increase in gambling tax enforced over recent years. Petra has been particularly vocal about this and the company’s profitability has taken a reasonable hit, since the first tax increase to 34.2% of GGR came into effect on 1 January 2025.

Holland Casino now pays 37.8% of GGR to the state, as per the additional increase in 2026, but with labour tax on top the business pays around 52% before they can look at their base running costs. It is not a small burden by any stretch of the imagination, so it is heartening to see the business doing well despite the tightening tax burden.

With such a significant rise in tax, you would forgive the company for cutting wherever possible, but Petra says they have made it work by maximising efficiency, restructuring, and maintaining their offering so the customer doesn’t notice that anything has changed.