Covid-19: annual expectations rebound in Asia and Europe

News of significant reopenings and sporting restarts in June saw a slight rebound in H2 Gambling Capital’s expectations for the European and Asian markets in 2020.

iGB’s principal data partner now projects gross gaming revenue in the Asia/Oceania region to come in 22.8% behind pre-pandemic expectations, compared to 23.1% in last week’s update.

Stronger-than-expected Chinese lottery data and Japanese betting numbers were a contributor to the adjustment (Chart 3).

In Europe, the Netherlands brought forward the reopening date for its casinos and arcades, while the UK announced the reopening of betting shops and the restart of horse racing and EPL football, the latter from 17 June.

H2 now estimates revenues to come in 22.8% lower than pre-crisis expectations, compared to 22.9% last week (Chart 4).

Overall however, projections for the global gambling market fell a further $1bn or 0.2% to 21.9% over the last week (see Charts 1 and 2).

H2 also noted the increase in Covid-19 cases in South Korea, reiterating that its expectations represented the best case scenario for the global gambling sector and its belief that social distanced operating conditions in venues would make for a difficult remainder of the year.

For more from H2 on how the Covid-19 outbreak is impacting the industry, listen to iGB's brand new podcast in partnership with the data specialists. Right To The Source is available now on Apple Podcasts