Land-based businesses are suffering greatly during the coronavirus shutdown. People are studying online, making their clothing and household purchases online, ordering food online and interacting online. All this has made many storefront businesses redundant. Gamers are also discovering that they can enjoy interactive, fun-filled gambling events by enjoying playing at a no deposit bonus code online casino on the PC or mobile device which will, in the future, become a more prominent gaming option alongside brick-and-mortar casino venues.
Some of the fastest-growing online casino engagement is happening in the East.
Online Casino Businesses Flourishing
Worldwide, the online casino business is enjoying a surge of popularity thanks to the corona shutdown. People are practicing social distancing as much as possible. As they stay home, they search for online entertainment providers who can offer various ways for them to pass the time in an enjoyable way.
The video streaming sector is one of the fastest-rising divisions of the online casino industry and is fueling the increase in online casino gambling. Once land-based casinos shut their doors last March, players made the switch to online platforms where they could continue to play for real money prizes. In many ways, they found that the online platforms were even more convenient than the brick-and-mortar venues – the bonuses are better, there are more games, the table games are no-table-limit games and there are options to play games for free as well as for cash rewards.
Trends
Most casino advisors agree that the future for the online gaming industry is bright and there’s huge potential. With the increase in visitation, online casinos can start to expand their live dealer platforms and look into offering more 3D games as well as virtual reality and artificial reality gaming events.
Most importantly, the social interaction that gamers can experience when they gamble online is exactly what people are looking for in this age of social distancing. You can compete against a live dealer if you’re playing in a casino with a live dealer platform or engage your friends in some friendly competition to see which of you is most successful in your gaming activities. There are tournaments and jackpot games as well so players can play directly against other gamers.
In addition to the new gamers who are joining the casinos to enjoy the social aspects of online gambling, researchers have noted that veteran players are also playing more. In social gaming situations, including in tournaments and progressive jackpot games, they are playing more because they are winning more as they compete against inexperienced newcomers.
Both veteran and novice gamers are aware of the advances in technology in the virtual gaming world. Many of the games now feature such quality designs and graphics that they are truly lifelike. Casino experts believe that this will increase online gambling revenues significantly.
Finally, and perhaps more importantly, the cancellation of live sporting events – including all major league games in America, the Olympic Games, the European Championship and Europe’s major league football games, has driven bettors to the online casinos where they can both play their own games and bet in online sportsbooks on esporting events.
Big Markets
Land-based casinos and live sporting events are on hold but gamblers are finding easily-available alternatives to quench their thirst for gaming. Some of the regions that have seen the biggest jump in online casino entertainment engagement include countries in Asia and the Pacific.
Australia
Online casino gambling is surging in Australia during the pandemic. The number of web searches for "online pokies" tripled between February and April 2020. As the pandemic forced clubs, pubs and legal casinos to close, traffic to online casino sites surged. One poker room saw its traffic double in those month and other sites have experienced similar increases, even though the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is ordering internet service providers to block illegal online casino websites.
In 2018 Australians lost $25 billion gambling, mostly on pokies. The amount that Australians gambled when playing offshore sites had been falling before the pandemic but the shut-down reversed that trend. Australia’s federal government estimates that close to $400 million is being lost annually on unregulated casino sites. Estimates are that that Australian states lost around $100 million in tax revenues from the offshore sites.
In Australia, online casino games are more attractive to gamers than lotteries or sports betting, Alex Russell, a gambling researcher at Central Queensland University said that Australian gamers are used to high-speed slot games so shutting poker machines simply sends them to other similar game sites. “Gambling is an addiction… so having that taken away from you overnight is a big deal, so they’re going to look for something else,” he said.
Monash University gambling and public health expert Charles Livingstone said that the government was, essentially, playing “whack-a-mole” by trying to shut down illegal gaming websites. You shut down one site and a new one will spring up to operate until it, too, is shut down.
Online casino gaming is legal in Australia but sites that are not licensed by the Australian government operate illegally. Other countries such as New Zealand, for instance, do license and regulate online casino gambling.
India
India is also seeing rapid growth for the country’s online casinos industry. When the pandemic set in and the country’s land-based casinos in Goa and Daman closed, gamers started to flock to the online sites. Offshore sites have reported huge numbers of new registrations, especially among those who want to engage in sports betting. Bettors who were accustomed to placing bets at land-based sports betting halls are now visiting online sportsbooks.
Observers project that online gaming in India will grow faster than the global online gaming segment. The online gaming segment is projected to grow at 43% with up to 365 million players expected by 2022. All online platforms are reporting a surge in users across the board throughout India. One casino operator reports that his company saw a 400% increase over a month’s time” and another platform, PayTM First Games, saw a 70,000-user rise in just one month after it announced its first e-sports league.
Transaction-based games like Poker and Rummy are experiencing the fastest rate of growth in India. Fantasy sports – due to the shutdown of sporting events – is slowing. Indian users are not showing interest in subscription and in-app purchase models so online gaming firms are focusing on sponsorship deals.
Japan
Gaming in Japan has traditionally been tightly regulated but the country is now a target of the online gaming industry thanks to its generally robust economy. For many years the most prominent gambling activity in Japan was pachinko, a type of video game which was played in pachinko rooms that were located around the country. Now, online gambling is gaining popularity in Japan and legislators are getting in on the act – encouraging online casino gaming as a way to halt black-market gambling and bring more tax revenue into the government coffers.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Japan had been moving ahead with plans to build three casino resorts in the country. Now the question of future land-based Japanese has stalled and policymakers are considering online gambling as a way to boost Japan’s entertainment industry.
Online gambling is still not regulated in Japan but offshore casinos operate in the country and increasing numbers of Japanese players are signing up for casino accounts. Many Japanese online casino gamers are drawn to the casinos because they can utilize the Venus Point online payment processing system which, for Japanese gamers, is the fastest and easiest method of online casino ebanking.
Currently the only types of online gambling that are legal in Japan are betting on sports, horse racing, car races and lotteries. Campaigns have been started to encourage the government to legalise online casinos in Japan and offer Japanese bettors more options.
