Covid-19 Impact on Gambling Industry

The coronavirus epidemic has spread all over the world. Currently, the virus is discovered on every single continent besides Antarctica, in every single country. The massive outbreak of the virus, which was discovered in Wuhan, China, began by the end of January. The virus spread all across the world in just a few weeks, infecting almost half a million people, and impacting every major industry worldwide, including the gambling sector. The World Health Organization has declared the Covid-19 epidemic as the pandemic. 

Covid-19 Impact 

The virus reached most of the countries on Earth. While many of them are trying to prevent the lethal outcomes caused by the virus, there is not much left to do. The most effective measure is lockdown, self-isolation, and quarantine. We live in the technological era, though, the technologies are useless against the virus, which has taken over the whole world. The only perk of technology, which is still a big deal, is the ease of communication and entertainment during the self-isolation and quarantine period. 

The leading countries such as China, the US, the UK, Italy, Canada, Germany, France, South Korea and many more are actively trying to fight the outbreak of the virus. The above-mentioned countries have come to the common ground of closing the borders, limiting gatherings and announcing the state of emergency in their countries. 

Italy took the first hit in Europe. The country managed to outrun China with the number of infected people as well as lethal outcomes only in the matter of a month. The US is currently in the center of attention as the country has announced the mass quarantine, emergency situation and isolated many cities from each other. The same happens with every other country in the world. Canada, as one of the leading countries in the world, decided to close borders completely earlier this week. In this unfair fight, some countries are more successful than others. While we do not have many tools to fight the global pandemic, we can still implement the measures which will help to prevent further spread. 

Measures in Place

The UK was the first European country to take the hit and shut down the casino operating in the cities. The major gambling capital in Europe is now off for several weeks. Not only the UK closed the casinos, but also every other non-essential business in the country. No one really knows for how long the emergency state is in the country, though unless the coronavirus outbreak is finally under the control, the life will not get back to usual. The country is locked down for now. 

Australia is another country that decided to take strict measures to fight the coronavirus epidemic. Tasmania is one of the states that closed the borders with the rest of the country. Tasmania closed all of the facilities and non-essential businesses in the state in order to prevent the further virus outbreak.

Unlike Tasmania, other Australian states decided to limit certain industries but not shut down completely. Despite this fact, Victoria and some other major states introduced certain limitations and restrictions in the gambling industry. The Crown Resorts and The Star Entertainment, the biggest casinos in Australia made the decision to put a limitation in the gambling industry. Both casino operators encourage the social distancing and thus removed every second slot machine in the venues.

The table games are also restricted. Only five people are allowed to sit around the table, while the outlooking people are not allowed at all. The limitation on the number of people is also imposed in the halls and conference rooms. Only up to 450 or 500 people in the case of The Stars casinos can be simultaneously within the gambling venue.

Another country to implement certain measures is the US. It is a well-known fact that Nevada is the capital of gambling and Las Vegas is a dream city for every gambler, and not only. The city governor ordered to shut down all casinos, strip clubs, bars, restaurants and other non-essential businesses earlier this week. Once known the City of Lights, is now a black hole.

Canada is another on the list. Certain states, such as British Columbia took the decision to shut down the casinos. British Columbia is the first land in Canada to announce the lockdown. Together with British Columbia, the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, with almost every operating casino will shut down by the end of the week.

Some of the casinos under the regulation of Great Canadians will not be shut down, though they will implement similar measures to the Australian initiative. The social distance is now a priority and the number of slot machines is cut. The table games are limited and the casinos are closed for a certain period of the day for the mandatory cleaning procedures. While those measures can somehow prevent the virus outbreak, the officials and authorities urge the rest of the regions and casino operators to take after British Columbia and close the venues for the safety measures.

Online Gambling with Covid-19

While the gambling industry suffers a lot from the massive outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the online gambling industry flourishes. The land-based casinos are closed in almost all of the major cities. The demand for gambling though has never decreased. With this, the online casino gain popularity time by time and host all of the players who are seeking for fun.

The online gambling industry is increasing. The market is increasing relatively. The competition for the new costumers is very high and consequently, the casinos are making everything possible to attract more players. Online casinos and online casino game developers add online games every day in order to maintain the vibe and make the days at home more or less bearable.

The online casino industry has already reached the peak and does not seem to slow down, as the quarantine regime is getting stricter and many countries are in the row to join. The gambling industry will adapt to the new reality and this will be via the online gambling industry. All in all, everything should have a logical outcome and every crisis gives birth to some new ways out.