After nearly two months of closures it seems casinos across the world are preparing to re-open – this has already happened within Europe as countries such as Germany as they’re well on the way to recovery following the lockdown but we’re also seeing it a little further reaching – Las Vegas is set to open their casino doors this week despite the ongoing spread of the coronavirus within the US and the current protests within the state.
Although there may be some trouble because of the coronavirus and protests, a lot of precautionary measures have been put in place to ensure the brick and mortar locations can perform as well as possible – plexiglass dividers keeping players separated, the use of masks and temperature checks will be widespread, and it has been announced that some games will be unavailable to players such as private poker rooms to ensure social distancing is adhered to as well as any inhouse safety measures – these are all changes that aren’t required for mobile gaming and the lack of disruption or change may be what helps mobile casinos retain current numbers experienced.
During the lockdown period, mobile gaming and mobile casinos in particular have been performing extremely well as they have found a huge surge in traffic – some sources claim that current players have risen by as much as 30% in some cases, which is impressive given how well the market had been performing previously anyway. To combat this, many countries even put restrictions in place for mobile gambling services to reduce the exposure they have – in the UK for example there had been a restriction placed on television advertisement of these apps and services, other countries would use similar methods by limiting deposit amounts too – whilst these did have an impact on active players, it didn’t change numbers too drastically and figures remained steady, with some categories even increasing in number.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, initial projections suggested that mobile gaming would continue to grow with the market expected to grow to $165 billion in revenue in 2020, new games and services continue to pop up and widespread growth in new game reviews as can be found here where The Best Casinos review of 4Crowns shows how newer games can grow in popularity on mobile, alongside the increasing growth of the audience being attracted to mobile gaming as a whole.
In the short term, it is unlikely that mobile gaming numbers will be impacted at all – especially as those who are currently attending brick and mortar casinos have been identified as those more risk averse, but as the recovery from the coronavirus happens continues to progress and more and more the general public embrace social distancing changes, they may begin to feel more comfortable going to the physical locations instead of their mobile devices – despite this mobile gambling is expected to see continued growth however as those who do go to casinos often gamble on their mobile devices too.