Covid-19 has brought uncertainty in everyone’s lives. It seems that almost everyone has been impacted by this deadly disease. Industries have suffered, markets have been on a downward spiral, and people have been losing jobs or seen their salaries slashed for the businesses to survive.
One industry that has been no different than the rest is the online gambling industry. During these hard times, the lack of gambling options has really put a dent into the pockets of online gambling establishments. But how else has Covid-19 impacted this industry?
We are going to take a look at that in this article, and we are going to tell you the X ways how. Without further ado, let’s start.
1. Loss of Revenue
Before this deadly pandemic, it was predicted that the online gambling industry would see a huge rise in revenue before 2025. While this industry is quite young compared to its European counterpart, there is lots of potential for growth due to the US economy and worldwide presence.
While Covid-19 has drastically increased the amounts of traffic websites get due to lockdowns and safety measures, businesses are still not in a favorable position. Online shopping, for example, has seen a huge rise in popularity ever since the first lockdown; an increase of 8.4%.
This logic would apply to the online gambling industry if it was not for the lack of options users could bet on.
Because there are no sporting events for people to bet on, these establishments are experiencing a drought in revenue.
2. Changes In the Industry
The US online gambling industry was preparing to go through changes that would see its popularity massively rise. States started introducing guidelines to make online gambling more accessible and easily controlled. Taxes were introduced to vouch to its legality and certain laws were drafted to back up the legal side.
But Covid-19 presented a risk that few could expect would have such as impact. While online casinos have it much better than their physical counterparts, it’s not a perfect scenario where players could log in on to a platform and gamble for fun.
As we mentioned earlier, and we will dedicate a whole section to this, it is solely because of the lack of options for users to bet on; or is it?
States such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania were first to introduce and actively encourage people to use online establishments as opposed to physical casinos.
In that same period, physical casinos saw a massive drop in revenue massing 70% for New Jersey’s physical casinos and 67% for Pennsylvania’s.
At the same time, online activity increased by 61% and 67% respectively. These changes proved that online establishments can be just as popular if not more popular than their physical counterparts, with the state earning a hefty chunk of money through online gambling activity.
However, we are currently at a turning point. We are now seeing proof that online gambling establishments are starting to bloom amidst reports that major leagues across dozens of sports are resuming. Such is the case for several prominent leagues in soccer including The Bundesliga, The English Premier League, and La Liga.
For more information on how and why online establishments are blooming, make sure to read this report from njgamblingfun.com.
3. Barriers to Overcome and Goals to Set
It’s safe to say that the US gambling industry is significantly younger than let’s say the European one.
In Europe, online gambling is the most popular form of betting because of established rules, systems, and lack of barriers. There is a fundamental difference in how winnings are disbursed amongst winners.
In Europe, for example, winnings are disbursed in the quickest time possible which is usually up to an hour. In the US, on the other hand, winnings can take up to 5 days to reach the accounts of users.
This fundamental difference is probably the most frustrating one when it comes to betting. Instead of having your winnings ready to go and bet some more, you have to wait up to five days to do so.
The lack of disbursement options makes this problem true. While the European market sees a huge rise in popularity, the US one is falling behind in a time where online gambling can really make a push to be the dominant form of gambling.
While partly because of this is the fact that the US market is significantly younger, platforms should invest in the integration of digital disbursement applications to make the process of withdrawing winnings easier.
Amidst a deadly pandemic where people are forced to stay at home, those that love to put a bet on would really benefit if they could get their winnings in a timely manner.
4. A Rise in Other “Sports”
While soccer is quickly returning to the big screens and more sports will soon follow, this wasn’t the case a few weeks even months ago. During that time, people would bet on anything they can. In soccer, for example, the only leagues that weren’t closed were the Belarusian First Division, the Thailand Premier League, and similar to its kind.
These are by no means elite leagues, but it just shows how far people would go just to put a bet on and watch a game.
During that time, these were simply not enough for players to find the inspiration to bet, and alternatives were needed ASAP. So that begs the question. What type of sport can the audience bet on that be safe for the players to play it? Well, the answer came in the form of eSports.
eSports are essentially sports within certain video games. The video game industry is a massive one that is constantly on the rise. Every established eSports game has its own professional scene.
This means that each of these games is regularly broadcasting tournaments and some even have their own leagues. Because of the lack of options in the physical world, bettors would turn their attention to the virtual world and bet on video games.
Some of the most popular ones include Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, FIFA, PES, Madden, Call of Duty, and dozens of more.
