2020 has been a challenging year in many ways. With the corona pandemic taking a chokehold on the world at the beginning of the year, a lot of companies suffered greatly. And just as many other businesses, the gambling industry and online casino market saw changes in traffic and visitors. The biggest change might have been with land-based casinos since they had to make a lot of adjustments to the regulations that accompanied the virus. To prevent spreading the virus rules such as keeping a distance from others, checking the temperature of everyone entering the casino and wearing masks, were instituted. Some land-based casinos were even forced to shut down completely during a period to stop the spread.
In this case, online casinos and betting sites had the advantage of people not needing to come together in person to be able to play. And more gamblers started to embrace the idea of staying at home. But these online sites had other challenges to face.
The sports betting industry
COVID-19 also effected professional sports events greatly. Many of the bigger games and matches in sports, such as soccer (football), ice hockey and tennis, that were supposed to take place during the year have been postponed or cancelled. And as a result of this, the gambling sites and online casinos with a sports section were also affected. Gambling sites whose main income were from sports betting noticed a decline in visitors when they couldn’t offer any of the bigger matches that people were looking forward to betting on.
It didn’t help that betting sites were offering a safer environment, (compared to a crowded football stadium) when the matches and games themselves were cancelled. As a result, some betting sites that focused on big sports events had to shut down their businesses. This happened simultaneously as Europe went into lockdown and the world of sports seemed to stand still.
Many betting sites had to resort to “plan B” and direct their focus to other alternative sports events. Many betting sites started to therefore offer betting opportunities on virtual sports and eSports. This proved to be successful since there are eSport tournaments like FIFA 2020 and NBA 2K20, and these attract a lot of people. It’s safe to say that eSport saw a huge audience increase during 2020 when the lockdown prevented people from betting on other sports events.
Increase in online casino games
For the online casino industry – the sites that have their focus on slots and jackpot games – there wasn’t a huge decline in audience and visitors. It was more the opposite. With land-based casinos having to close and social distancing becoming more important, many decided to stay home and try their luck online.
This, however, leads to another question being raised – will the lockdown in Europe lead to people developing an online gambling addiction? The industry is already battling the fact that many people fall into gambling addictions from online casino games, but during a time of depression, people losing their jobs and being stuck at home – there is always a chance of this increasing.
One country that has taken strict measures against the online casino industry during corona, is Sweden. During the summer of 2020, the government in Sweden decided to limit the bonus amount that Swedish casino sites are allowed to hand out. This because they claimed to have noticed an increase in gambling addiction during the first months of the coronavirus.
What used to be diverse bonuses up to 100 or 200 euros from online casinos in Sweden, have now been limited to 10 euros (100 kr). The regulations say more specifically that a casino site with a Swedish gambling license, can only hand out one bonus per player and this bonus is 10 euros.
This came as a hard blow to the Swedish gambling industry, especially since the rules were already strict. After the Swedish licence from the Swedish Gambling Authority took effect, there were a lot of changes to be made for sites that wanted to be approved for the license. One example was that the casino was only allowed to hand out one bonus ever to its players. (A welcome bonus when the player signs up and create an account on the site). And this bonus has now been reduced to a low amount of 10 euros.
Lessons learned from COVID-19
Even though the year has been full of challenges and hardships, there has been a silver lining to everything. History often shows that during periods
of depression and recession, many companies work harder than ever to make a profit. A situation like the global corona pandemic forces companies and employers to think outside of the box and come up with new solutions. And this has certainly been done, for example with betting sites investing in alternative sports events, such as eSports.
With widespread unemployment and people being depressed, it is hard to imagine that they would be betting on esports or online casino games, but this becomes an escape that people need. Studies have shown that during economic uncertainty, people gamble even more! However, it is still very important to do so within reasonable limits and to set up a budget for your gambling.
The future is uncertain but we stay hopeful
For now, a lot of online casinos seem to be handling the COVID-19 storm with ease. Some are even benefiting from it. How long this virus will last is still uncertain so what the future holds is still a bit of a mystery. However, many online casinos have shown that they know how to survive a tricky situation and can handle being thrown into one of the biggest plot twists we have seen in modern times.