Covid-19: Asia-Oceania drags recovery

New obstacles to recovery in the Asia-Oceania region erased hopes of a stabilisation of H2 Gambling Capital’s forecasts for the global gambling sector this week.

iGB’s principal data partner is now estimating gambling gross win of $359.3bn in 2020, a downgrade of -24.1% on pre-outbreak forecasts and -20.6% behind the 2019 figure (Charts 1, 2 and 7).

H2 said that initial optimism forecasts were going to hold steady on the back of the English Premier League restart had faded following the re-emergence of the virus in China, further delays to reopenings and Australia imposing a ban on international travel into the country into next year.

“It has been estimated that Chinese visitors spend on average cA$1bn per month in the Australian economy and are a key target market for the A$2bn 6-star Crown Hotel and Casino due to be opened in Sydney in December”, said H2 in its commentary.

The data specialists are now forecasting a -27.1% shortfall on pre-pandemic estimates for the Asia-Oceania region (Chart 3).

H2 added that its US forecasts had also been impacted by some states not yet announcing reopening dates for land-based casinos, with the regional forecast now trailing pre-pandemic expectations by 19.8% (Chart 5).