European Casino Association predicts a complicated 2022

For two years now, the Corona pandemic has been holding the world's breath. Now almost a month of the new year 2022 has passed, but real improvement does not seem to be in sight at the moment. While in some countries, all Corona measures and regulations were lifted due to the mild Omikron variant, the German politicians continue to tighten. According to those in power, compulsory vaccination is to be enforced with a vengeance, which means restrictions for the unvaccinated for an indefinite period. Naturally, in the gambling world, this affects, first and foremost, the gaming arcades.

Difficult, uncertain times will also continue in 2022

A few days ago, we reported that the German gaming industry had been hit hard by the Corona pandemic. Less than a week later, the European Casino Association (ECA) is also warning about the ongoing restrictions that will accompany gaming arcades this year. While online casinos are experiencing a revenue boom, the Fench Classic Roulette has become less popular, and terrestrial casinos are being hit hard by the virus pandemic.

ECA director Per Jaldung offers little hope for casino operators in the freshly dawned year, as Corona restrictions will limit the day-to-day activities of gaming operators for the time being. Last year, each casino in Europe had to close for an average of 150 days due to Corona regulations, which is almost half of the year. While casinos in Hungary got off lightly with only 54 days of closures, terrestrial gaming venues in France were hit the hardest with 199 days.

2022 will not be better

The forecast for 2022 looks anything but good, as currently, most European countries still have hygiene regulations for visiting a gambling house. In many countries, 2G-plus rules apply to visits to gambling halls, making it much more difficult for gamblers to go to the casino. There is a vaccination rate of about 70% in Germany, which already excludes 30% of the population as potential casino customers. In addition, the remaining 70% still have to get tested in most cases before they are allowed to visit a casino. Due to the many regulations and the effort involved, this person also deflects online casinos, which further harms the business of terrestrial gambling halls.

Due to the sometimes arbitrary decisions of politicians and the so-far unsuccessful handling of the pandemic in the past two years, the future for offline casino operators is considered uncertain. However, they will continue to experience significant drops in sales, which is why it is imperative that the state aid be extended. Because otherwise, there will be significantly fewer terrestrial gaming halls in 2023, as is still the case at this point in time.