An AI-generated Instagram advertisement used Alphonso Davies’ father in a fabricated Edmonton police arrest story to promote an offshore gambling site outside Alberta’s regulatory system. The advertisement directed users to Oxibet, a site based in the Comoros that is not registered to operate in Alberta.

The ad was posted by an account called Prime Spin Zone. It showed a manipulated version of Davies’ father being arrested after police allegedly found a cash-filled vault. The video claimed the money came from gambling winnings and urged viewers to use the same site. A fabricated AI version of Canadian rapper Drake also appeared in the promotion, Canadian Gaming Business reported.

What Alberta can regulate

Alberta launched its regulated private iGaming market on July 13, 2026. Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis regulates registered operators. The Alberta iGaming Corporation manages the market framework and approved-site program.

The province says regulated operators must meet advertising and player-protection requirements. Those rules do not give Alberta direct control over an offshore advertiser or operator outside its registration system.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis told Canadian Gaming Business that misleading or manipulated gambling advertising may be reviewed case by case. It may also be referred to police or another enforcement body.

Consumers should verify that a gambling site is registered to operate in Alberta before using it.

Approved operators must identify themselves through the Alberta iGaming Corporation logo and include responsible-gambling information in marketing. These requirements can help consumers distinguish regulated sites from offshore promotions. They do not prevent false advertisements from appearing on social-media platforms.

A test for platform enforcement

The Davies advertisement raises a separate question for Meta and other online platforms: how quickly can they detect and remove gambling promotions that use fabricated faces, false police narratives and unauthorised celebrity endorsements?

Canadian Gaming Business reported that the Davies family had no connection to the promotion. The incident follows earlier cases in which Canadian athletes, casinos and media personalities were used without permission to give offshore gambling sites an appearance of legitimacy.

Alberta created its regulated market partly to draw players away from offshore websites. The province has said unregulated operators previously captured about 70 per cent of Alberta’s online gambling activity. Those sites often operated without comparable safeguards for identity checks, self-exclusion, responsible gambling or dispute resolution.

The deepfake highlights the gap between those goals and the online advertising system. Alberta can impose conditions on registered operators. It has fewer direct tools when a foreign site buys or benefits from an advertisement that reaches Alberta users through a global platform.

What consumers should check

  • Look for Alberta iGaming Corporation approval information.
  • Confirm that the operator appears in Alberta’s registered-site system.
  • Treat celebrity endorsements, arrest stories and guaranteed-win claims as warning signs.
  • Avoid entering payment or identity information through an advertisement link that cannot be independently verified.

The case does not show that Alberta’s registered operators created the advertisement. It shows that the province’s consumer-protection rules depend partly on platform enforcement and on users recognising when a promotion falls outside the regulated market.