The start of the year saw the first lockdowns put in place to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus as first wave of efforts had remained in place for a number of months – whilst many businesses were suffering from the damages caused by the lockdown and many suggesting they may not be able to recover moving forward as further uncertainty grows, there has been one industry in particular that has managed to thrive during this period of time, and as Europe braces for an extension of second lockdown measures past the holiday period, it seems that one industry may be in its best position possible.
Online gambling had found huge success early in the year – much of this had been attributed to the fact that many betting operators had to temporarily halt their approach as major sporting events found cancellations and postponements leading many to seek out alternative forms of entertainment, and despite adjustments to certain regulation such as Gamstop and other methods put in place such as advertising blocks to prevent operators from advertising their services, many online sites such as Max Casinos were able to benefit greatly from the first lockdown.
The return of sporting events toward the summer did little to slow this growth either, as players would continue to use online gambling services whilst also starting to place bets once again, but as we’re a few weeks deep into new lockdown measures and a planned future for some restrictions of movement for many, there has been no similar approach for the sporting events and more simply that they are largely quiet during the winter break. But with a growing number of people stuck at home once again, it provides a perfect opportunity for services such as online casinos to benefit from increased attention once more, and so the question may arise of whether or not further restrictions will be placed on these again similar to the previous efforts.
Many will look back at this year to gather data on what to expect moving forward – much of the growth can’t only be attributed to the pandemic and the lockdowns as many of these different services have been finding a surge of new players for a longer period of time now – this has been a concern for many as the number of younger players joining is rising at a very rapid rate, but does provide some insight on the movement of the mobile gaming industry as a whole. A clearer picture of what is happening may not be seen until spring where many are suggesting a big change will happen as expected vaccines may be rolled out by that time, but that does provide a long period of time in between throughout the holiday period where numbers may continue to grow – if you feel you may be falling into this category however, there are a large number of resources out there to help, and much more attention being brought to ensuring player safety over these difficult times.
(Image from pymnts.com)
