Depending on where you’re from in the world gambling may be held in a different regard, but there has been a conscious effort across the world during the lockdown measures put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus to also reduce the growth in mobile gambling. Measures have been put in place to reduce exposure or to reduce how often or how much players are able to gamble – within the UK all advertising for these services had been restricted on both television and radio in the hopes the reduced exposure would slow the growing number of players, in Sweden the amount that could be deposited per week had a cap to prevent players from depositing large amounts of money, and in Latvia all online gambling was banned during lockdown.
Now these measures were put into place to protect players – the increasing amount of time stuck at home has led to increasing risk as many aren’t working or relying on different forms of support, but it may also be attributed to the growth in the market as a whole. Many games are introducing features that make them more appealing as a glowing review of Leo Monaco Casino for example shows, integration into social media and different deposit methods are providing players with a new way to use these services which is in part responsible for the growth, a changing demographic as there are a growing number of players – in this market especially over 50% of players, are older than thirty and with a disposable income.
There are some that expect figures may drop to a pre-covid low once the world returns to business as normal – some are expecting this even sooner as traditional casinos are now beginning to reopen, but projections are showing that this may not be true and the growth would continue to be expected – but as this period of time has been able to capture a growing number of players that may not have used the sites prior it could remain true that many will stick around afterwards and continue to use the services.
It’s also important to note that this also happened during a time of reduced gambling through betting as sporting events remained postponed or cancelled, and with sporting events starting to return to a full capacity as many begin again in June and others looking for a July start date, this may push figures higher – these sporting events will also continue without any fans in attendance meaning many will either be watching from home through broadcasts and live streams or watching in public places which may also encourage further gambling – whether or not this could be considered an issue is something that is up for debate depending on how it is viewed, but as restrictions previously mentioned across countries such as the UK, Sweden, and Latvia now begin to lift, we may see a continued sway but also begin to see if current figures and concerns remain.
