The year of 2024 has brought upon us many new and unfamiliar challenges that in large part changed how we live, work, and have fun. All the limitations, quarantining, and isolating ourselves has made it impossible for many of our favorite activities to be carried out, especially if they imply going to a certain establishment and interacting with a lot of people.
It seems that nothing is safe when it comes to the pandemic we are still in, not even the most fun things like gambling and betting. The entertainment industry as a whole has been hit immensely hard, and its unofficial branch in the gambling and casino industry is no different. There have been many effects of the coronavirus pandemic on casinos as people cannot go to their favorite places and play roulette, poker, blackjack, slots, and whatever else they might have once enjoyed.
Casinos are one of the most popular places to go for entertainment in many parts of the world, and they attract a significant portion of tourists too as well. With places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City, most of their revenue revolves around gambling. The covid-19 pandemic which originated from China at the end of 2019 has drastically affected the lives of people and industries all over the world, and casinos are no exception in this case. Right here in this article, we will talk about its biggest effects on casinos. If you wish to find out more about any casino in the world, and check how much it was hit, especially those in the UK, make sure to visit casinofinderhq.com.
Casinos had to be completely closed as a result of Lockdowns
The virus disrupted the global business markets including the casino industry in a very devastating way. In response to the pandemic, many countries imposed the partial or complete lockdown to limit the social gatherings indoors.
This introduced a lot of limitations in various circumstances, and many different punishments if the law was broken. Essentially however, many of the casinos no matter how big and famous or small and seemingly average they are had to be closed. Some closed down completely and the owners had to sell the real estate involved, leaving the employees of their establishments without their precious jobs.
Restrictions for the casinos being reopened
In the wake of some lesser cases once the peak of the pandemic had passed, some countries like Macau, the largest gambling location in the world, started reopening their casinos with some restrictions on how they are allowed to operate until further notice.
There is still no dining and drinking allowed on the premises, while the number of players inside has to be limited depending on the area and the number of workers in the casino. These restrictions became more severe in the wake of the second and now third covid-19 wave scares.
Casinos are expected to gather only half of the revenue than expectations in the upcoming year
Since covid-19 has caused major business losses, and the fact that financial instability is a real thing with almost all of the people nowadays, it is expected that people will spend a lesser amount on their entertainment over the course of the next 12 months or so.
Moreover, tourism will remain restricted in many of the countries until the situation is completely in control meaning no gambling and casino-related tourism. Lesser tourism means lesser visitors at casinos, which in turn equals a lot less revenue than what everyone has grown accustomed to. It is therefore expected that the revenue generated by the casinos all over the world will be half of their estimated revenue projections at best.
What is more, the gambling share in the stock markets is declining rapidly and will continue to decline further as we move onto 2024. Gambling companies have reported significant declines in their share values. For instance, Flutter Entertainment reported a 12% decline, William Hill reported a staggering 50% decline, while The Stars Group faced a 17.5% decline in their share values.
Covid-19 lead to boast in online casinos
As expected from the very start of all the curfew and limitations on moving around and leaving homes, online presence in all the different ways skyrocketed. Therefore, it has been noticed that the online gaming industry has flourished during 2024 and while it was already bigger than ever to begin with, the pandemic helped it reach brand new heights.
Most of the online casino websites have taken full advantage of the lockdown procedures and enjoyed tons of success. Therefore, not everything has had negative experiences with coronavirus, as virtual casinos are on the rise. All around the globe with many physical gaming houses and casinos closed, gamblers have switched to the virtual casinos that are easier to use and more accessible in many ways already.
Some casinos were able to boost their business by offering promotions and online gaming, expanding their customer and service range. In this crisis, the online gaming websites are doing better business than the established casinos. To improve their gaming skills, the regular gamblers are also playing online, improving their skills and staying atop of their game despite not going to casinos. However, some countries like Latvia have banned virtual casinos as well both due to covid-19 and other reasons.
To create attraction for the newcomers, a lot of virtual casinos have made some changes in their marketing strategy too and are creating interesting promotions and tournaments for the beginners. It has been noticed that many gamblers have tried online gambling and virtual casinos during the lockdown for the first time in their lives, which indicates that online gambling has become the latest trend worldwide for gamblers.
The situation in the UK
Casinos in the United Kingdom were mostly closed in March but reopened again in August. After reopening, these casinos implemented many restrictions on the visitors like obligatory use of sanitizers, face masks, and limited the number of people playing at the same time. There is a limit on time spent inside of the casinos as well. UK’s casinos reported 70% lesser revenues as compared to their revenues this time last year.
Casinos in the UK have more than 14,000 employees, and their lives were heavily affected. Moreover, UK casinos even tried to stay open by telling the government that they would stop selling alcohol in order to avoid complete closure again, if the cases begin to rise again. Casinos in London have offered to be closed after 10 pm to avoid a large influx of visitors, limiting their working hours but giving them some prospects of making money and employing the workers they had to let go back.
