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Coronavirus and Online Gambling - The Trends
We truly are in unprecedented times with the Coronavirus continuing to extend to all areas across the globe. This is leading to society and the world on a whole moving to lockdowns, with no dates known as to when and if this will come to an end.
Events around the world have been either cancelled or postponed, that includes the likes of the European championships and now the Olympic games. This is just the third time in the Olympics 124 year modern history, that the games has failed to take place on its scheduled dates, and it has previously been cancelled on three occasions in 1916, 1940 and 1944. This coming during the first and second World Wars, with the Cold war boycotts leading to the disruptions of the summer games in Moscow and Los Angeles. This gives a further indication of just how serious the current situation is around the world, due to this pandemic.
The cancellation of sporting events, has also meant that it continues to be a strange time in the gambling industry. People are now moving over to other options of online gambling, such as casino games, instead of their usual sports betting. This has also been backed up in search trends from consumers, which shows how behaviour has shifted during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
A key example of this can be seen in Google trend data, which gives an indication of what is being searched for on the web. A common term for example is ‘online casino’, which is really beginning to rise over the last week or so. This is also expected to continue to rise in the next few days/weeks and even months.
Another very common term is ‘online poker’, which has also seen some remarkable changes since we entered this current period. It had remained steady since the start of the year, with average search terms remaining the same but this has now risen greatly. The sudden surge has seen an incredible 400% increase in volume in the last 30 days, which is a staggering statistic and gives a further example of how players and now moving to other options, with the postponements of sporting events around the world.
Furthermore, there are a significant number of increases are Gamstop related terms, which is interesting as those who previously didn’t want to play, are now doing so. Casinos not on Gamstop are few and far between, but these have become ever more searched given the Coronavirus epidemic according to Google Trend data.
‘Online Bingo’ as expected is also another popular term that has seen a major increase. In the last 30 days, this has risen by over 400%, which further adds to the notion of players moving over to casino games options. These increases of search terms, have also coincided with the worsening of the current pandemic. Looking at this, if the current situation worsens, which it is predicted to do, then the increase in this form of online gambling is only set to continue to rise. This is as people are forced into taking residence in their own homes and are only allowed to leave for essentials.
Another way of looking at the current situation is that the term ‘sports betting’ has seen a major decrease in searches. This has dropped by around 35% in the last 30 days, which is yet another example as to how players are adapting to the current situation we are in.
The trends are clear, coronavirus is impacting online gambling greatly, with more people now turned to casino and bingo options, due to the continuing cancellation of sporting events around the world.
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