The Transforming Effect Of Covid-19 on Land-Based and Online Gambling Industry

The greatest global health, crisis of our time – the Coronavirus pandemic – delivers, another blow in a second wave even more devastating than the, first reported outbreak in 2019. The effects of this. virulent disease delivered a significant blow on the health of the global population, destabilizing the world’s. economy to the extend that has yet to be fully revealed. The full socio-economic. implications of COVID-19 may require years to fathom. As countries in the Northern Hemisphere attempt to adjust to the difficult changes in the. wake of the pandemic, we look into the effects of Covid-19 on brick-and-mortar casinos and the iGaming industry. As a result of the spread, of Covid-19, the land-based casinos took a heavy, blow, perhaps the heaviest recorded in modern days. Gambling halls from Macau to, Las Vegas and from Atlantic City to Europe were forced, to close between January and April, as pandemic, moved throughout continents. Statistical data on the, economic effects of weeks-long closures are quite telling. According to H2 Gambling. Capital, the current 2020 forecast in global, gambling gross win in the brick-and-mortar vertical is, 19.2 percent below in comparison to the previous year, and 22.5 percent lower than the pre-Covid-19 expectations. In May, land-based casinos. in Macau reported 87.8 percent dropdown in gross, wins when compared to the same period in 2019. Two months earlier, when local casinos reopened in Asian capital of the gambling. world — after medical workers, authorities, and citizens,

tamed the initial wave of Coronavirus — the number of visitors went down 92 percent on Year-on-Year basis. In America, 92 percent of all casinos were forced to shut down, affecting more than 640,000 employees. The volume of Las Vegas. visitors was down 97 percent in April 2020, in comparison. to the same month last year. The total occupancy of. hotel resorts in the city was only 1.7 percent. Consequently, Nevada currently. has the highest unemployment rate in the United States — 25 percent higher than during the Great Depression. Vegas casinos restarted. operations on June 4, while Atlantic City, restarted on July 2, 2020. Those local players who visit reopened casinos can expect regular temperature checks, mandatory use of Personal Protection Equipment, Plexiglas, sneeze guards at table games, reduced seating at slot machines, and limited amenities. Such precautions are particularly necessary for New Jersey since the area was a pandemic hotbed. On the other hand, online. gambling and other web-based gaming verticals — such as. eSports and Daily Fantasy Sports — largely remained unaffected by Coronavirus. Some of them even thrive,, considering shelter-in-place orders that inevitably drive gamblers towards internet casinos where such health, precautions are not necessary. H2 Gambling Capital estimates. that interactive betting will amount for 49 percent, almost half of all global sports betting in 2020. iGaming is on a significant.

rise too, standing for 11 percent of worldwide gambling, at the moment — growing from 8 percent last year. To put this particular figure in, context: It took nine years for online gambling to increase for, three percent in this category. When you take these figures. and add online lotteries in the mix, the global average, of interactive means of entertainment rises to 16.1 percent of all gambling. The increase amounts, to 3 percent per year. iGaming never grew more than. 1.2 percent annually for the last seventeen years. With so many roads leading to. interactive casinos, the need for adequately informed players who make prudent decisions while playing in well-regulated online jurisdictions and properly governed markets — in line with national regulations — has never been as important as today. As we increasingly look to the internet to satisfy a myriad of interests — without knowing when the global pandemic will end or how will it unfold in. the future — it’s up to each player to approach gambling, with a proper balance of playing skills and luck in pursuit, of fun and potential gains. That’s what we’d like to. leave you with today, guys! Please share your thoughts in, the comments below so we can continue the deliver premium,. tailor-made content for your entertainment and pleasure. You can find LCB on Facebook,. Twitch, Twitter and Instagram as well. As ever, stay informed. and play responsibly!.