How harmful do you believe COVID-19 will be to your business this spring?

[MichaelCorfman]

The Coronavirus pandemic is having a huge impact around the world. Within the gaming industry every conference I know about has been cancelled over the next month, and most over the spring with some likelihood that all of them will be cancelled this spring as we get closer to event dates. Sporting events are being cancelled, which obviously has a huge effect on the sports betting industry. All over the world many people are staying home, which is reported to have increased online casino, poker, and other types of online gaming activity.

For individual affiliates and operators the impact could range from very harmful economically to potentially even positive. For this weeks poll please share your view on that front.

And please elaborate on your vote with your thoughts in a post. Plus, independently of the economic impact, the pandemic is definitely disruptive to everyday life for many if not all of us, so please share your thoughts on that front too.

For the GPWA and for Casino City, at least right now, the economic impact seems to be minor. Good from some perspectives and bad from others. And the business operational challenges are pretty minor. Many of us have always worked from home, and continue to do so just fine. There are a lot less people in the office - all of us in the entire company are working from home now except for a few that I can count on one hand. So operation of the GPWA and Casino City continues with the same level of service and just as efficiently as always.

Personally, though, lives are definitely being interrupted, even for those that are fortunate enough to be insulated, at least for the time being, from both the economic and the health impact. My mother lives in a home for the elderly that is under lock down right now. Family members can't visit her in person and she is further isolated because the dining room is closed and everyone in the home has to eat alone in their rooms. And she is at the very lucky end of the spectrum - there is another nursing home nearby in the Seattle area where many residents are sick and many are dying (27 confirmed deaths as of this past Saturday, 63 positive tests for the home's patients, 47 employees testing positive out of 72 employee test results).

Michael

[Cash Bonus]

I assume that since they will have closed many land based casinos as a result of this unprecedented coronavirus spreading, more and more people will want to stay at home and play online casinos instead and this will be profitable for affiliates like us.

[BBCasinos]

Will be profitable in the first 2-3 months. After that people don’t have money anymore. And the gaming industry will get a bit hit. Hope this Pandemic doesn’t take to long.

[ddm]

millions dead. economies wiped out, 20% jobloss maybe - not looking fab for anything except casino!

[TheGooner]

As signups have dwindled away since 2018 (even though traffic is steady) we've pretty much relied on past years signups for revenue over the last two years.

Currently revenue is actually higher, possibly as people avoid going out and spend time inside and online.

But I expect to see economies tank, jobs to be lost, and entertainment money to dwindle.
If people don't have money then they won't be playing so much online.

Spring will be OK, but Summer and Autumn might be hard.

[Former Member 14]

If people don't have money then they won't be playing so much online.

Not everyone is going to be stood-down. Besides, gambling seems to always shine in a recession. With Vegas closed, and other land based casinos throughout the world following suit, players are going to keep playing, regardless. Even if that means signing up at online casinos to feed that need.

The last couple of weeks for me have been outstanding. At some casinos I'm averaging 4 - 5 FTD's a day. It's been a few years now since I've seen figures like those. Hence, If this influx of players continues, I'll have a few record months for a while.