Pandemic Hits Land Casinos, Boosts Online Gambling Revenues

Many branches of the massive entertainment industry have been hit hard by the ongoing global pandemic. Movie theaters have seen their worst year ever, live music is pretty much nonexistent, and movie studios are repeatedly delaying the release of their films because of the dire situation. One of the branches of showbiz that felt the biggest pressure from the novel coronavirus is the casino industry, seeing its revenues decrease dramatically.

Dramatic decline

According to a recent report published by the American Gaming Association, the revenues of land-based casinos in the US have decreased by close to 80% in the second quarter of the year. The pandemic has forced close to 1000 casinos to shut down in March, and some of them haven’t reopened to this day.

Slot machine revenues have decreased by 81.9% in the second quarter, table games revenue decreased by 86%, and land-based sports betting – an activity that doesn’t need punters to linger inside for long – decreased by 46%.

The recent reopening of casinos across the US is good news for the industry but the revenues generated this year will still fall far behind those in a usual year: not all casinos reopen, and those that do enforce social distancing and safety standards that will prevent them from working quite at the pre-pandemic level.

iGaming Grows

At the same time, online gambling has seen perhaps its best year, especially in the US. Online casinos are the perfect pandemic alternative for their land-based counterparts: to play at them, one doesn’t even have to leave the house. And those who argue that online casinos are just a lesser, casual alternative to the real thing should take a look at the Mega Moolah winner at the JackpotCity Online Casino who took home a staggering $12 million in April. And the several more who have won big ever since.

In recent years, several US states decided to regulate the online gambling industry rather than ban it – and it seems to have been a good decision in the current situation. While online gambling is a far more casual activity than its real-life counterpart, it can be pretty lucrative: in the second quarter of the year, US online casinos generated more than $400 million in revenues, growing by a staggering 253% year-on-year. In August, iGaming grew by 224% compared to the same period of last year, to $145 million.

Slow recovery

Given the current situation, the recovery of the US gambling industry is pretty slow. At the end of August, there were still close to 50 commercial casinos closed across the US. Still, the crowded sports calendar has helped sports betting operators recover some of their losses – Americans bet more than $2 billion on sports in August alone, generating revenues of $126.7 million, the second-highest ever.