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At least two Canadian provinces have banned the purchase of U.S. gaming machines and other lottery technologies in response to the escalating trade tensions with their southern neighbor.
“In response to the ongoing threat of tariffs, all Crown Corporations, including the BCLC (British Columbia Lottery Corporation), were directed to exclude U.S. suppliers from any new procurements of goods and services,” Matt Lee, a BCLC spokesman, told Vixio GamblingCompliance in an email on Tuesday (March 11).
“This would include new contracts for slot machines,” Lee said. “BCLC will ensure alignment with B.C. government directions.”
Those directions were issued by British Columbia Premier David Eby on March 4 as the continued threat and removal of tariffs has affected the province’s economy. The current directives are a first step, as provincial officials continue to monitor the situation.
“There is an exemption process in place in the event that there truly is no non-American alternative, but the goal is to use the purchasing power we have to exert pressure on the U.S. as much as possible,” said one British Columbia government source.
In Alberta, a similar directive restricting video lottery terminals (VLTs) and slot machines became effective Thursday (March 6) after Premier Danielle Smith announced restrictions on alcohol, gambling machines, and other goods in retaliation for sweeping U.S. tariffs.
“AGLC will prioritize procurement on companies that have support services in Alberta, Canada, or with countries that we share a free trade agreement with,” Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) said in a bulletin. “AGLC’s Gaming Division operations relative to the purchase of ancillary support products and our lease network will continue at this time.”
Government-run lottery corporations in Canada are directly involved in gaming in accordance with Canadian federal law. In Alberta, British Columbia and various other provinces, the lottery corporation directly procures VLTs that are operated in a number of retail locations.
The restrictions on U.S. gaming machines come after the Trump administration slapped a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports to the U.S.
Implementation has been partially suspended until April 2 for many products. Still, about 62 percent of Canadian goods are being affected, according to provincial officials.
Daron Dorsey, executive director of the Las Vegas-based Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), said AGEM and its members continue to “monitor the trade policy decisions made by governments in our various markets and evaluate how to navigate them based on each company’s specific circumstances.”
“These policy decisions and responses affect many industries beyond gaming for both the near and longer term,” Dorsey said in a statement. “Our gaming suppliers will manage and adjust to this new normal as best they can.”
President Donald Trump made it clear that tariffs on Canada goods and services are meant to get the federal government in Ottawa to do more to prevent cross-border drug trafficking. Besides gaming machines, Canadian provinces have also reacted to the U.S. tariffs by removing American whisky and other products from store shelves.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday suspended a 25 percent surcharge on exports of power to New York, Michigan and Minnesota after Trump blamed it for his plan to double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada to 50 percent.
Ford made the decision to suspend the surcharge after talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Lutnick is the former chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, who as head of the Wall Street firm company got into sports betting in Nevada with Cantor Gaming, which later changed its name to CG Technology.
Despite the administration’s delay for goods that met the rules of a 2020 free trade deal, Alberta has not lifted its ban on U.S. gaming machines. There were more than 20,000 slot machines and VLTs in the province as of March 2024, generating nearly C$1.9bn in annual net revenue, according to the AGLC’s 2024 annual report.
By banning slot machines and VLTs, Alberta is trying to safeguard its gaming industry from additional harms from unpredictable U.S. trade policies.
It is not known whether other major gaming provinces like Quebec and Ontario are implementing their own bans on U.S. slot machines and VLTs.
Messages left with Loto-Quebec and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which is jointly owned by four Atlantic provincial governments, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador were not returned.
Major suppliers to Canada’s casino and VLT markets include IGT, Light & Wonder, Aristocrat, Konami, AGS, Ainsworth and Everi Holdings. Most suppliers did not respond to requests for comment from Vixio.
Phil O’Shaughnessy, vice president of global communications with IGT, emphasized the company’s “large presence in Canada,” with more than 400 employees in local Canadian offices.
“We produce Canadian VLT content in Canada, and our VLT cabinets can be manufactured in locations outside the U.S.,” O'Shaughnessy said in a statement emailed to Vixio.
