There is no denying that 2020 has been a tough year for physical, in-person casinos. The pandemic has shut down some of the most prominent gaming homes for weeks and months and the industry has taken a massive hit that will be hard to come back from. Thankfully for many, like Ninja Online Casino Canada or other online casinos, the hit wasn’t as bad as it possibly could have been. But the impact that has been had in the rest of the casinos around the world have been felt.
Hopefully, a new page can be turned in 2021 and casinos will make the bounce-back that would help the industry get back on its feet. There is no doubt a new market for online casino games and online gambling, but the root of gambling and poker lies inside the actual casinos that helped the games come to the forefront of culture and can hopefully be revitalized.
Gambling Insiders said about 2020 that the casinos had to adapt and that a new way for players had to be found during the time of the pandemic.
EveryMatrix CEO Ebbe Groes last week spoke to the GI Huddle in detail about adapting during the pandemic: “Sports betting in 2020 can best be described as tumultuous, as although a complete shutdown of the major sporting calendar hurt sports betting revenues deeply, there has been a considerable uplift since major leagues returned. In many ways, sports wagering is now in a very healthy place, with fewer entertainment alternatives available for players and major sport now a constant fixture.
“But now that professional sports organizations have strong testing procedures in place, 2021 should be a year of further growth for sports wagering companies – growth comparable to 2019 and not just against reduced 2020 figures.”
When it comes to online gambling, there were always critics and some that didn’t believe in the platform, but a prediction being made is that it will have a much more prevalent place in 2021 and companies won’t be caught off guard when it comes to the new year and making their casinos eligible to be used online.
While there remain those who feel land-based will always trump online, a far greater percentage of gambling stakeholders will have softened their stance on digital than at this point 12 months go (if they weren’t already advocates, that is). What 2020 has taught us from a business perspective, across all industries, is that extraordinary events can stop retail altogether. That’s not to mention the merry-go-round casinos and betting shops worldwide have undergone subsequent shifts in policy at different stages of the pandemic.
Online betting, however, cannot be halted in this manner, especially online games that don’t rely on the sporting calendar (casino, poker, bingo, etc). This harsh truth when comparing online and retail has even resulted in talk of regulating online gaming in Macau this year, however realistic or unrealistic that prospect may be.
There is hope that 2021 will bring upon a new year that will save the casino industry and we certainly have to hope that as well. According to one source, the hit that was taken in 2020 won’t be a quick fix. While 2021 could be the greatest casino year of all-time, it is unlikely that a problem such as this one will be solved overnight. There will be a rebuilding process coming for these casinos that lost so much money, and in the United States, for instance, this will be a process to getting back on top, according to International Business Times.
Many speculate that within three years, the USA casino industry can heal from what has transpired in 2020. According to analyst Chad Beynon, “With a vaccine, the Vegas market will recover, and signs point to 2023 being the break-even year”. In Nevada, tourism generates around $19 billion to the state’s gross domestic product and supports close to half a million casino gaming industry jobs. If resorts remain closed for 90 days, estimates say that that may mean that hospitality employees will lose an estimated $7.7 billion in pay the next year and a half.”
There is no denying that what happened in 2020 will certainly affect 2021 and this has been the toughest thing that this industry has ever gone through. Bill Miller, who is the CEO of an American gaming association, was not mincing words when he spoke about what happened in the last year and how bad it truly was for the industry:
“This is undoubtedly the most difficult economic challenge the industry has ever faced. Yet, our resilience amid such adversity is evidence of our foundation for continued success. With more than 85% of casinos open, many are hoping for a return to normalcy. The same occurrence as the sports betting sector is experiencing. Something similar to what’s happening in Indiana, where July’s gross gaming revenue from casino games and sports betting was only $10 million off from July of 2019.”
While certain figures are hard to predict in 2021 given the uncertainty of how bad the pandemic will be in the new year and whether or not there will be a worldwide vaccine available to all that will halt the spread of the disease, we can only hope that the casino industry can rebuild strongly and we must know that while it won’t happen overnight, casinos will get back to the top eventually.
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