Slotegrator looks back at what the last two years meant for the industry

In 2020, land-based casinos’ GGR collapsed due to the worldwide lockdowns imposed by authorities to contain the spread of Covid-19. Some examples: Monte Carlo Casino’s revenues fell by 48% year-on-year; the Las Vegas Strip’s casinos’ by 43.3%; in Macau — the world’s gambling mecca — the GGR fell by nearly 80%.

At the same time, online casinos registered record revenues, with year-on-year increases up to 80.6% in already established markets (Italy, December 2020). In contrast with this display of resilience, online sportsbooks at first struggled due to their dependence on real-life events, highlighting the fragility they share with land-based establishments.

The online casino bubble of early 2020 was replaced by year-end with a more balanced growth for the entire online sector, with online sportsbooks registering record revenues and reclaiming much of their market share. This growth was only partially tempered by the reopening of land-based establishments in 2021, and we’ve seen that the offline sector’s recovery is constantly threatened by changes in external circumstances, with new dips in GGR following Covid outbreaks and related lockdowns.

The situation is still in flux, but a lot can be learned from what we’ve seen so far. To read Slotegrator’s analysis in full, click here.