Category Archives: Gambling

The "Global Online Gambling Market 2020-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report on the global online gambling market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the rising popularity of the freemium model. In addition, the introduction of bitcoin gambling is anticipated to boost the growth of the global online gambling market from 2020-2024.

The global online gambling market 2020-2024 is segmented as below:

Type:

Device:

Geographic Segmentation:

Key Trends for the global online gambling market 2020-2024 growth

This study identifies introduction of bitcoin gambling as the prime reasons driving the global online gambling market growth during the next few years.

Prominent vendors in global online gambling market 2020-2024

The report provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the global online gambling market, including some vendors such as 888 Holdings Plc, bet365 Group, Betsson Ab, Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd., Flutter Entertainment Plc, Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., GVC Holdings Plc, INTRALOT SA, MGM Resorts International and William Hill Plc .

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market Sizing

Five Forces Analysis

Market Segmentation by Type

Market Segmentation by Device

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

Vendor Landscape

Vendor Analysis

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vsch7z

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200331005348/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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Global Online Gambling Market 2020-2024 - Bitcoin Poised to Boost Market Growth - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Yahoo Finance

GAN plc ("GAN" or the "Company"), an award-winning developer and supplier of enterprise-level B2B Internet gambling software, services and online gaming content in the United States, today provides more information on the previously confirmed closure of certain market access arrangements with the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians ("Tribe") in the State of Michigan, following the December 23, 2019, passage into Michigan law HB 4311, a bill that includes provisions for the legalization of full real money Internet casino gaming in the State of Michigan as well as Internet sports betting.

In Michigan, GAN will be providing its technology Platform together with certain operational services to both the Tribes five land-based Kewadin casino properties and an existing major U.S. casino operator client of GAN ("Client") that has requested anonymity pending certain regulatory approvals.

With a population of 10.0 million (3.1% of the U.S. population), the Michigan Internet gambling market is forecast to generate $377 million in Gross Operator Revenue in the first 12 months of operations, increasing to $836 million in the fourth operating year (source: Regulus Partners, an International gambling consultancy).

Due to the extent of the Clients substantial assets, this Clients Internet gambling business is currently anticipated to be a significant contributor to GANs full year revenues in 2021.

Management Commentary

Jeff Berman, Chief Commercial Officer of GAN, commented:

"Michigan has long represented an attractive market with both Internet sports and Internet casino gaming now regulated. Our technical expertise and day one experience in multiple U.S. Internet gambling markets will enable the Sault Tribe to capture their share of the online opportunity and we thank them for their trust in forming this relationship with GAN and our major U.S. casino operator client whose identity will be confirmed in due course. We are incredibly excited to bring real money Internet gambling to Michigan, which remains at the core of our mission, strategy and purpose in the United States."

Allen Kerridge, CEO of Kewadin Gaming Authority, commented:

"The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians is excited to take this important step with GAN and our mutual partner to bring both retail sports to our consumers at our five casino locations in short course, in addition to Internet gaming casino on day-one when first allowed by the State of Michigan. We chose GAN and our mutual partner based on their market-leading technology and combined substantial experience serving gaming clients both online and offline."

About GAN Plc

GAN is a leading business-to-business ("B2B") supplier of internet gambling software-as-a-service solutions ("SaaS") to the US land-based casino industry. The Company has developed a proprietary internet gambling enterprise software system, GameSTACK, which it licenses principally to land-based US casino operators as a turnkey technology solution for regulated real-money internet gambling, encompassing internet gaming, internet sports gaming and virtual Simulated Gaming.

GAN is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: GAN).

For more information please visit http://www.GAN.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200327005093/en/

Contacts

GANJack Wielebinski Head of Investor Relations+1 214 799 4660jwielebinski@GAN.com

US Investors: The Equity Group Adam Prioraprior@equityny.com +1 212 371 8660

Carolyne Sohncsohn@equityny.com +1 415 568 2255

UK & Ireland Investors: Newgate Communications Adam LloydGiles CrootGAN@Newgatecomms.com +44 (0) 20 3757 6880

Davy (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) John Frain / Barry Murphy+353 1 679 6363

Liberum (Joint Broker) Neil Patel / Cameron Duncan+44 (0) 20 3100 2000

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GAN Confirms Internet Gambling in the State of Michigan - Yahoo Finance

The cancellation of the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournaments opening weekend (March 19-22)typically one of the biggest betting events of the yearhas left what some bookies estimate is a $140-million wound in the betting industry. All that disposable income hasnt gone unwagered, however. Some savvy gamblers are finding that they can chase shifting odds on the 2020 U.S. presidential election or turn a quick buck wagering on incidental proposition bets like how many times President Trump tweets Chinese Virus from March 21 to 22 (if you guessed more than once, you lost), and whether Joe Biden will pick Elizabeth Warren as his running mate (bettors think shes fading; shes gone from 8 to 1 on March 5 to a 12-to-1 shot as of Thursday), not to mention a host of politics adjacent bets on the price of oil, the Dow and the value of Netflix stock.

Interestingly, the surge in political betting has exposed an uncomfortable gray area in the law.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA), a federal ban on sports gambling in every state except Oregon, Montana, Delaware and, of course, Nevada. Since then, 40 states have at least introduced legislation to legalize sports betting, with 16 states already in some phase of implementation. But while some Vegas bookmakers post odds on an election or, say, the Academy Awards, its solely for entertainment purposes. They dont take actual bets. As of now, no state does, though a couple such as Indiana and New Jersey approved wagering on the most recent Oscars, possibly leaving the door open for politics in the future.

PredictIt, a political-betting website, operates openly out of Washington D.C., taking prop bets on everything from whether Trump will be re-elected to how many times hell tweet in a week, under the exemption that the site is a non-profit collecting data for academic research. The site pays out more like the stock marketyou buy a share in, say, Kamala Harris for $.50. If she wins, you get $1. If she loses, you get nothing. The even foggier realm of online and offshore betting sites, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision, has opened the virtual cages for betting by anyone on just about anything.

Meanwhile in the U.K., where gambling on politics has been legal for decades, elections are big business for bookies.

According to Matthew Shaddick, head of politics betting at Ladbrokes Coral Group, a betting group based in London, the past 10 years have seen steady growth on wagering on the outcomes of votes like the Scottish independence referendum and Brexit. But he says when it comes to action, nothing really compares with American politics, with its direct elections and outsized personalities.

The Trump election was huge, he says. In general, presidential elections are a nice binary optionin European elections, youve got complicated parliamentary processes. But Trump is such a well-known and controversial figure. The 2020 U.S. general election will no doubt be the next big thing. Its clear to me from all the money were taking in that it will break all the records.

Trumps surprise win in 2016 brought U.K. bookmakers around 100 million pounds of action ($85.2 million), Shaddick estimates, equivalent to a huge soccer match and much bigger than the Wimbledon final or any major golf tournament. He believes that Trumps bid for re-election this November could be two- to three-times as big. As of late this week, Ladbrokes listed Trump as even money (essentially a 50-50 chance) to win over Joe Biden, the odds-on favorite to emerge from the Democratic primaries as the partys nominee. Until recently, most oddsmakers had Trump as a heavy favorite to win re-election, but that has changed since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the stock markets tumble.

Its going to continue growing, says Shaddick. The fact that sports are shut down, the fact that theyre not going to have the Olympics, theres no doubt the U.S. election will be the biggest market we trade here.

Whether Americans are actually betting their bankrolls on the political horse raceeither legally, illegally or somewhere in betweenits clear that there is growing public interest in following the odds.

During the last Democratic debate, FanDuel, the online fantasy sports website, posted a free-to-enter $10,000 online contest where contestants had to provide the most correct answers to a series of prop-like questions: which candidate is first to mention washing your hands and whether Joe Biden would utter his trademark epithet malarkey. More akin to fantasy league football than straight-up betting, the FanDuel event was a way for sports fans to scratch their itch in the absence of a televised game. And USA Today reported that there were 60,000 unique entries.

American gambling media is also starting to follow the odds more closely. Action Network, the new one-stop-site for all things sports gambling, launched by Chad Millman, an ex-ESPN editor who started that companys gambling news page called Chalk, has made politics a fulltime beat. Other outlets, from the New York Daily News to the Baltimore Sun to Forbes have published recent updates on the current presidential odds.

We serve hardcore bettors with day-to-day coverage, but this definitely matters to more than our typical base, says Katie Richcreek, a senior editor who writes about politics at Action Network. Most of our traffic on this coverage is coming through organic Google searches.

The line between bookmaking and good old political analysis is hard to detect at timesat least up to the point where money changes hands.

Being on top of your market and your assessment and being well informed is the most important thing in betting, says Angus Ham, political betting analyst and head political trader with BookMaker, who has been setting odds and betting politics since before the 1992 Clinton/Bush/Perot presidential election. You read the press wires, Real Clear Politics for a collection of articles. You watch CNN and listen to the news quite a lot. In the U.S., you look at the polls that are relevant. The three most important things are research, research and research.

Richcreek says interest started spiking before Covid-19 set in, back in the weeks leading up to Super Tuesday, but that she believes as long as sports remain on hiatus, she expects readers to be following the presidential oddswhether theyre actually putting money on the race or not.

I dont know if its because theyre interested in betting on it or if theyre looking for ways to gauge the race, says Richcreek.

There is debate about whether or not betting odds more accurately predict political outcomes than many models and polls, though not much evidence that one is better than the other. But Richcreek says odds might be simpler for people to understand.

As long as there are races, there will be interest in how sports books are portraying them in their odds, she says. We try to translate odds in terms that readers will understand. I think thats easier for people to understand than models.

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Frustrated Gamblers Turn to Politics as the Only Game in Town - POLITICO

Casino stocks fell in a rising Monday market as the coronavirus has forced them to close their facilities, destroying revenue.

Eldorado Resorts (ERI) - Get Reportand Caesars Entertainment (CZR) - Get Reportparticularly took it on the chin.

Thats because last years announced deal under which Eldorado would take over Caesars for $8.5 billion in cash and stock has failed to gain the attention of regulators, who must approve it. The regulators are preoccupied with the coronavirus.

Other gambling stocks that are down Monday include MGM Resorts (MGM) - Get Report, Boyd Gaming (BYD) - Get Reportand Penn National Gaming (PENN) - Get Report. Las Vegas Sands (LVS) - Get Reportbucked the trend, rising 1.9%.

Eldorado has tumbled the most, down 24% to $11.46 at last check. It closed its gambling facilities two weeks ago.

The news was better for the company before the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. It said Feb. 20 that the Mississippi Gaming Commission cleared the Caesars deal. At that point, Eldorado expected to close the transaction in the first half.

Caesars shares fell 6.2% to $6.43 at last check. Two weeks ago it said it was shutting down its North American properties.

It has become clear that we must take this extreme action to help contain the virus and protect the safety and well-being of our team members and guests, Caesars CEO Tony Rodio said then in a statement .

Eldorado shares have given up 76% in the past month, and Caesars shares have dropped 48%. The S&P 500 index has declined 12% during the same period.

Originally posted here:

Eldorado, Caesars and Other Gambling Stocks Hit as Coronavirus Shuts Casino Doors - TheStreet

Eric Pruess at the recent IRGC meeting.

The man who oversees Iowa Gambling Treatment program says March is National Problem Gambling Month but the message has quickly changed as the coronavirus hit Iowa.

The state-licensed casinos shut down to prevent the spread of the virus but Eric Preuss says that didnt shut off all avenues to gamble. He says lottery tickets are still available, and hes heard from counterparts in other states that people are turning to the stock market to get their gambling thrill.

Trying to guess whats going to happen with the market and trying to gamble that way. So, its just very interesting, Preuss says. The one thing were doing here at the department in the midst of this thats COVID-19 related is still trying to assure that Iowans have access to care whether it be related to problem gambling or substance abuse disorder treatment.

He says thats the big message right now during this pandemic. If theyre looking for help for themselves or theyve got concerns for someone else give 1-800-BETTSOFF a call. Call Your Life Iowa, or go to the website, were still here to help, he says. Preuss says some people may turn to gambling to deal with the anxiety of the current times. But he says it is not a given how anyone will react.

Its all so individual. I think for all of us and everyone who may be listening, I think we all have our own kind of anxiety dial and how bad is this for and how bad is it for us and ourselves, Preuss says. What I keep trying to tell myself and others that I work with is just stay in the moment, take care of the things that you need to take care of for today. You cant worry about whats going to happen two weeks from now or a week from now or even tomorrow per se.

Preuss says there are some signs of possible gambling you might see in your family and friends. Are they trying to hide the gambling that might be going on. Are they lying to someone else about what might be gambling? Are they wagering or betting more than they planned to wager?, Preuss says. Preuss says you should know if you are experiencing concerns about gambling it is not something you have to handle by yourself and you are not the only one who may be dealing with it.

Youre not alone if you are having those feelings. Theres 30,000 Iowans who have a gambling disorder in any given year. And theres 314,000 adult Iowans at any given time that are experiencing some sign or symptom related to problem gambling, Preuss says. So if you are having that you are not alone. Help is just a phone call away if you want to talk to someone about it.

Preuss says there are no judgments made, and the help is available 24/7 365 days a year.

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Problem Gambling Month took on new focus with coronavirus outbreak - Radio Iowa

The demand for oil is falling. The supply of oil is increasing. The result as even those with only the scantiest understanding of economics knows is that the price of oil must be falling.

And some. The cost of Brent crude one of the market benchmarks fell to below $23 a barrel in early trading, the lowest it has been since the US and the UK were making preparations for the invasion of Iraq in November 2002.

The fall in demand is easy enough to explain. Planes have been grounded and factories mothballed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. People are working from home and so using their cars less. Developed economies have become more service-sector dominated than they were 40 years ago but they still consume a lot of crude. And if an economy shrinks by 15% or 20% in a single quarter which looks eminently plausible for the US and Western Europe then it is going to need a lot less oil. It is as simple as that.

Whats happening to supply requires a bit more of an explanation, because with demand collapsing the normal response of the big producers would be to limit output in the hope that would stabilise the price.

This time it is different. Saudi Arabia has responded by turning the taps full on even though its own government finances will suffer from a lower oil price. Why? Because the Saudis are in a power struggle with the worlds other two major producers the US and Russia and is convinced it can endure the pain of a low oil price for longer than they can.

In this global game of chicken, Riyadh is gambling that it can eliminate competition from the US shale oil sector much of which is unviable at $20 barrel and force Moscow into accepting the need to get serious about production curbs. The Saudis ramped up the pressure at the weekend by making it clear that they were not close to a deal with the Russians.

That announcement was the trigger for the latest price fall, and all the signs are that the cost of crude will go still lower. With Donald Trump accepting the need to keep tough Covid-19 restrictions in place until the end of April, it is clear that the crisis is going to last for longer than originally expected. It wont be long before storage capacity runs out.

The current weakness of oil prices will not last for ever. Supply will go down as a result of US shale producers going out of business and an eventual deal between Riyadh and Moscow. Demand will go up, in part stimulated by falling oil prices, which lower business costs and boost consumer spending power.

But for the tide to turn one of two things need to happen. The Saudis need to stop flooding the market and consumers need to be able to spend their windfalls. Neither looks imminent.

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Saudis gambling on game of oil-price chicken - The Guardian

The Belarusian Premier League is huge right now. No doubt its time was coming anyway, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it the most-watched competition in European football. As the only top-tier league still playing through the crisis, however, that isnt hard. Happiest of all that Belarus is reporting virtually no infections are sports bettors, and by extension the wagering companies who accommodate them.

Internet pages are now awash with blogs, tips and previews on Slutsk v Dynamo Brest. Experts are coming out of the woodwork to steer you into the correct score/first goalscorer double in the Isloch v Smolevichi-STI blockbuster. Sports such as Taiwanese basketball, Belarusian Premier League and Tajikistan mens basketball are up approximately 2,000%, a Tabcorp spokesman told Guardian Australia. It seems any port in a storm will do for Australias legion of sports punters who contribute a not-insignificant proportion towards a gambling industry worth almost $25bn annually.

While turnover increases in the thousands might look good on paper, nobody is suggesting the Belarusian Premier League is a panacea for companies who make money out of other peoples opinions. But in a time when almost all professional sport has ground to a halt, betting on a league many might not have heard of six weeks ago shows how committed some are to getting set.

And the bookies are obliging. Been following the Russian Fiba 3x3 recently? No? Youre missing out. Tabcorp is reporting the competition as the most popular with sports punters. There was already some interest in this as it will be an Olympic sport in the next Games, but overall in the last week it is up 50%.

And it doesnt stop there. With a hit or kicked ball nowhere to be seen, Australian gamblers are being offered products once considered somewhere between esoteric and non-existent. On top of the standard suite of markets on reality TV shows in 2019, Tabcorp held $1.3m on Masterchef alone customers can invest their wagering dollar on the US election, the Nobel Peace Prize and the Time Person of the Year. For the Nobel, the eventual inventors of the vaccine for Covid-19 are the $2 favourites and the World Health Organisation are the $2 favourites to be named Time Person/People of the Year, the Tabcorp spokesman said.

If weather watching is your thing and with many of lifes pleasures on hold, it might well become a thing for many youre in luck. We have also this week opened markets on the weather punters can bet whether the temperature in each major city will go above or below a certain temperature.

It would seem a market on two flies climbing up a wall is next but horse racing and greyhound racing in Australia are still in operation. Paused in several states last week when it was reported a jockey had been tested for Covid-19, thoroughbred racing resumed in time for the weekends autumn carnival action after Mark Zahra returned a negative. The duty-of-care concerns attached to an industry that depends on animals aside, the continuation of racing is a godsend for the hundreds of thousands of people who either work in the industry or invest in it. And for those who follow it.

The situation is far grimmer in the UK. With all sport and racing now halted, industries have been decimated and multitudes left out of work.

The Racing Post, the daily bible of British horse racing and sports betting, has ceased production of its newspaper during the outbreak and is only publishing its digital edition. There isnt much to write about. In its popular What to watch on Saturday column, readers were pointed to Australian horse racing, the Belarusian Premier League (of course) and a re-run of Minder, with the connection being that the actor playing the leading role was a fan of horse racing.

These are indeed challenging times, with no end in immediate view. When approached for comment, a senior content editor at the UK betting exchange, Betconnect, duly obliged in one of his final tasks before redundancy left him jobless. It is a very hard time for many sectors and many businesses, he said. BetConnect would normally expect to trade several million pounds of bets in a regular month and spring is a particularly good time of year. Virtually none of the usual revenue will be coming our way.

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From basketball in Tajikistan to the weather: how gambling companies are riding out Covid-19 - The Guardian

The COVID-19 pandemic is upending traditional investing considerations as companies post earnings results for a time that has little bearing on what they're facing today.Casino operators are a microcosm of the effects that shelter-in-place orders are having on the economy as they were among the very first businesses ordered to close in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

First in Asia, now in the U.S., casinos have seen their operations almost completely walled off from opportunities to make up the difference elsewhere. With many industry players having lost about 50% of their value year to date, even after rallying in the last week of March, it may be tempting to take a position in gaming stocks at "bargain" prices. But that would be a mistake.

Image source: Getty Images.

Global resort operators like MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM) and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) have been among the hardest hit, with shares down 64% and 56%, respectively, so far this year.

That's because of their base of operations in Macao, which was shut down for two weeks as China sought to contain the outbreak. While Macao began reopening its doors in late February, MGM said visits to resorts have yet to recover, and gambling revenue in the region plunged 88% year over year that month. Analysts expect a 70% decline for March, but it could be worse as China first limited tourism to the region and has now completely closed its borders to foreigners.

That was followed here at home by states like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut similarlyordering casinos to close.And after South Dakota shuttered casino operations as well, every operator in the country, including regional casino and racetrack operators like Boyd Gaming(NYSE:BYD) and Penn National Gaming(NASDAQ:PENN), are completely shut down.

Data by YCharts.

Most operators have no means of generating revenue from other businesses, which led the industry to seek a bailout in the $2.2 trillion federal stimulus package, though it doesn't look like they've been successful.

Some casinos may be able to offset some of their losses with online gambling, but only 10 states allow some form of it, and six of those are sports betting only. With all major sports leagues having suspended their seasons, that leaves only four states -- Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania -- that allow for either online casino games, online poker, or both.

Casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City have the most developed online gambling operations since they were first into the business. Even so, online betting represents only a small portion of total gambling revenue. While that may tick up during the pandemic, it's not nearly enough to make up what casino operators are losing from their physical properties.

Casinos are trying to ease the pain of the closures with their employees by paying their salaries, including tips, while executives take pay cuts (Wynn CEO Matt Maddox is forgoing 100% of his salary for the rest of the year in exchange for company stock). But many of these operators are also carrying heavy debt loads.

Wynn has over $10 billion in debt, half of which is tied to its Macao operations. Ratings agency Fitch Ratings just downgraded MGM's outlook to negative from stable, including its China business, saying current financial conditions and "the severe disruption to global gaming caused by the coronavirus outbreak" warranted the revision.Its stock has actually been one of the best performers recently, rebounding 70% in the second half of March.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) has been anomaly in all this as its stock has gained the least in the past couple weeks, while all other casino operators surged. But its shares have also seen the smallest losses year to date, even though, like Wynn Resorts, it derives the bulk of its revenue from Macao.

Despite theindustry's rally, which likely priced in any optimism that the most financially secure casinos will make it through this storm, the best bet for investors is to remain on the sidelines.

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Now Is Not the Time to Buy Casino Stocks - Motley Fool

Affiliate giant Gambling.com Group has issued an update on the effects of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on its business, reporting that it generated revenue of 2.4m (2.1m/$2.7m)for January and February 2020, down 27.4% year-on-year.

Adjusted earnings before income, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to 390,000, down 66.7%.

The group said that sports betting - which will see a sharp drop in revenue after the near-total shut-down of major global sporting events - made up less than 20% of revenue for the two month period.

This contribution was still enough for Gambling.com Group to warn that it expects the sporting suspensions to lead to a meaningful negative impact on revenues.

However, the group said that it does not expect a significant impact on revenue in March, as most events continued as normal for the first half of the month.

Gambling.com Group said casino, which is its largest source of revenue, has experienced a slight increase in revenue in the past month.

It has implemented cost-saving measures, through which it expects to save around 150,000 on outgoings, while an unspecified, temporary measure put in place for the second quarterh is expected to save 300,000.

The business ended February 2020 with net interest-bearing debt of 9.4m.

Last month (28 February), the group announced that it saw total revenue grow by 6% year-on-year to 17.3m in 2019. However, the group saw a tightening of adjusted earnings during 2019 as it contended with declining contributions from the UK and Sweden, and changes to Google's search algorithms.

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Gambling.com warns of Covid-19 impact on results - iGaming Business

For many of us, March 11 was the beginning of the pandemic. It wasnt actually the beginning, far from it. But for those of us who were healthy, whose kids were still in school, whose bosses still expected us to be at work every day, and who had paid attention to the news of the coronavirus only on the radio while driving the kids to school like the unsuspecting protagonist of a zombie movie, that Wednesday night was when we came face-to-face with what was about to happen to our lives.

As the Utah Jazz prepared to tip off against the Oklahoma City Thunder, word came across our television screens that the game would be canceled after Utahs Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. By 9:30 p.m. the NBA announced a suspension of the entire season. From there other sports leagues announced they were considering following suit, including the NHL and the NCAA, which canceled the upcoming March Madness tournament. In the next two days, nearly every sporting event in the world was canceled or postponed, including Thursday nights Lakers game, and the rest of the Lakers season. I logged on to my sportsbook account to check the status of my sizable future bet on the Lakers winning over 50 games this season. The status was pending. I tabbed over to view the Lakers current record: 49 wins.

I had nearly $1,000 in NBA future bets that were now uncertain. I had hoped to cash more than a few of them, and the end of the season would dovetail nicely with potentially putting a down payment on a house that my wife and I had been hoping to buy. Wed been saving for the moment for years, socking the money away into savings and stocks, biding our time for when we could finally afford to stop renting and join the landed gentry. I had bragged to her that my winnings would contribute, albeit in a small way, to this occasion, attempting to earn her respect, or at least increased tolerance for my gambling proclivities. I felt I was making progress on that front. But now

As that weekend commenced, we prepared ourselves for the coming quarantine. Stocked up on provisions. Downloaded Zoom. Obsessively watched the news. Texted frantically with our friends and family. Although my frantic texts were of a different flavor than my wifes. One friend of mine who is a professional gambler and single mother texted me that if the casinos closed shed likely go belly up, completely devoid of any income and unable to file for unemployment. Two professional sports bettors who had both been at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Rufus Peabody and Spanky, announced that they were feeling sick. (Rufus would later test positive for the coronavirus; Spanky was sure he had it but has quarantined himself since testing centers were so backed up.) And the guy who ran the poker game I frequented in the back room of a local pool hall let me know he was fine and wanted to know whether I was coming to the game on Saturday night. I texted back that it seemed unwise. He replied to me with a photo of a box of latex gloves and hand sanitizer. If Resorts is playing, were playing, the text read.

Resorts World Catskills in Monticello, New York, is the closest legal poker room to New York City, and as of that Saturday the casino remained open, as did most every casino in the United States. That morning, however, the Wynn in Las Vegas announced it would close the following Tuesday, the first Nevada casino to do so. By Monday, nearly every commercial casino in the United States, including Resorts World, would follow suit.

The human toll of the coronavirus, by nearly every account, could be devastating. Tens of millions of people could be infected. Millions could die. Those numbers take into account only those who will be directly affected by the virus. The indirect effect from the economic toll could also be deadly. Millions more will lose their jobs, and with them their health insurance. Poverty will increase. On March 21, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis predicted that unemployment could reach 30 percent and the GDP could drop as much as 50 percent. Those are extreme predictions. If they come true, and if the virus isnt contained to the point that economic activity can return, there is a good chance they could come true, and the country could be facing a calamity worse than the Great Depression.

Ironically, gambling in the United States experienced its biggest period of growth during the Great Depression. States turned to legalized gambling as a way to generate much-needed tax revenue. For most states, that meant legalizing horse racing. In Nevada, it led to the legalization of full-scale casino gambling and an economic transformation perhaps unparalleled in American history. But gambling couldnt have made a dent in public coffers if there were no customers. Given that the Depression meant widespread unemployment and poverty, youd think there wouldnt have been any money to bet on a horse or a lottery ticket, let alone a dice game in the middle of the desert. But oh, there was! Americans responded to legalized gambling in the 1930s with gusto. By the 1950s and the return to stable economic footing, gambling had blossomed into a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States.

It seems counterintuitive, but studies have shown that during periods of economic uncertainty, Americans gamble more, not less. For most of us, particularly the non-sharp gamblers, the square money, gambling is about dreams, about luck, about betting a little and winning a lot. Its about taking a risk thats based not on merit but on fate, on the gods shining fortune down on us in our time of need. Its irrational, but so, too, is America.

On Saturday night, as I sat home playing board games with my family, my curiosity was piqued. I texted to see whether the poker game actually happened. They texted me a video of a packed room of participants playing poker in masks and a mix of latex and leather gloves. Land of the free, home of the brave I guess, I replied.

On March 16, school was indeed canceled and our family of five was homebound, trying to stay socially distant from the rest of the world, but perhaps as socially proximate as we could get among ourselves. The following night, after my second long day of acting as unpaid elementary school teacher, I received a message from a friend asking why there are NBA lines posted in the Pay Per Head we use. (A Pay Per Head is a website used by bookies to track and process bets with their customers.) I logged on and sure enough there they were. Knicks -5 against the Hornets, Rockets -10 against the Cavaliers. Was the NBA back? Hardly. Next to the lines, I noticed a URL linking to Twitch. When I clicked it, I found a broadcast of an NBA 2K game, and the voice of what appeared to be a teenager addressing members of the chatroom. I figured this was what it had come to, taking bets on teenagers playing video games on Twitch. Still, I was looking to wind down after a particularly stressful and weird day. And ordinarily watching (and betting on) the NBA was my go-to move on days like that. I asked in the chat which of these teenagers was the better player and who would be playing what team, hoping to get an idea of what to bet on. We dont play, was the response. Its just a sim.

The kid explained that they simulated an entire NBA season and had been doing it for a while. They would let the game take control of each team and play itself, letting the games internal algorithm and the programmers sense of each players abilities and other variables dictate the results. The graphics in this particular video game are good enough that if you squint you wouldnt even know it wasnt a real game. This, it seemed, could be a passable substitution for the real thing. I placed $80 on the Rockets and $20 on the Knicks, cracked open a Coke Zero, and settled into my rocking chair to wait for the game to begin. As we waited, a couple of hundred people joined the stream. The kid seemed surprised at the traffic. Someone in the chat mentioned that the game had appeared on their bookies website. Others said the same. Bro, the teen bellowed to someone off screen. Theyre saying that our game is on some kind of betting website. Thats crazy, bro, the offscreen voice responded. How?

Once the game tipped, I couldnt believe my eyes. The box score on the screen began to populate with numbers. A clock began to rapidly tick down. Where were the simulated players? Where was the virtual game? Within seconds the entire box score, all four quarters, was filled with numbers. The Knicks had been crushed. I had lost $20. I asked in the chat whether we were going to get to see the games. Nah, bro. If we actually watched the games wed be here all night, the teen responded. By the time he had finished speaking, the Rockets had lost by 40 points to the Cavaliers, and I was $100 in the hole.

The next day I asked the guys who ran my Pay Per Head what the deal was with the Twitch stream simulations. Were experimenting with offering some virtual sports, was their reply. The next night they ditched the Twitch teens in favor of simulating their own games on their own Twitch stream, and this time they would show the virtual game in all its glory. In fact, a quick survey of gambling Twitter showed that there were simulated sports being streamed by bookies and groups of bettors all over the world looking for their fix. It was hard for me to muster up the nerve to try betting on fake sports again. For one thing, I couldnt understand where any of the betting lines came from, or what they were based on. For another, I didnt know whether I could even trust that the games were real. Its bad enough having to wonder whether a syndicate paid off a referee or a small conference benchwarmer to shave a point or two IRL. This felt ripe for unscrupulousness.

My options, however, had grown slim. There were so few sports to bet on that Vegas Dave, the most notorious (and noxious) of the sports betting touts, had resorted to selling his curling picks for $499. One sport that had soldiered forth in the face of the falling dominoes, however, was horse racing, a sport very near and dear to my heart. A sport that depends more on revenue from gamblers than ticket sales from spectators, it was an easy decision to continue operating without crowds and letting fans bet the races online. Some tracks, like Oaklawn Park in my hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas, chose to stay open to the public. I had pleaded with my mother and family members to stay away. This is Arkansas, David, was my mothers exasperated reply. As things continued to worsen around the country, however, Oaklawn decided on Thursday, March 12, that it would bar spectators from the grandstand for that weekends races, including the Rebel Stakes, an important prep race for the Kentucky Derby. The tracks casino, sportsbook, and restaurants would remain open to the public.

One person in attendance that day was New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. As is the case with any famous person who visits the nations smallest national park, Payton was received all over town as a dignitary, lunching with big shots and shaking hands with members of the Chamber of Commerce and the like. He presented the trophy to the winning owners during one of the spectator-less races, and hobnobbed with trainers and jockeys. On Sunday, he started to feel sick. On Monday, he tested positive for the virus.

In New York, where horse racing was also running without spectators, the calls to close the racetrack were growing louder with each passing day. For the industry, however, the lack of competition for spectators (and betting dollars) was proving profitable. On Wednesday, March 18, NBC Sports Network announced it would air 20 hours of horse racing coverage over the next two weekends in an absence of any other sports to cover. Fox Sports 2 planned to add over seven hours of horse racing coverage that weekend. Aqueduct in New York was reporting seven-figure increases in betting handle over the previous year. And online betting sites like FanDuel and Derby Wars were also reporting increases in wagering on horses on their sites.

The morning of March 18, a backstretch worker at Belmont Park tested positive for the virus. The New York Racing Association announced that day it would suspend all operations. NBCSN announced that instead of airing horse racing it would broadcast monster truck rallies.

One sporting event, if youll allow me to describe it that way, that I was looking forward to watching over the next few weeks was the FIDE Candidates chess tournament in Russia. Because there were only eight participants, the organizers decided they could safely hold the event and did not cancel. (One player pulled out of the event in protest of this decision.) Grateful that Id still have something sporting to watch during quarantine, I wondered whether it might also be possible to bet on it. I texted with some friends to see whether anybody wanted some action. They did, but what odds would I give? I searched to see whether anyone in the world had thought to make a line on this event. I knew that it was common for bookmakers to hang a number for the World Chess Championships. Perhaps given the dearth of betting options at that moment, some bookmakers might have hung numbers for this event. Lo and behold, they had. The Candidates was on the board at books all over the world! I logged on to the bitcoin sportsbook I often used, loaded up my account with bitcoin, and started placing all sorts of ridiculous parlays on the various games. Who, I wondered, was making these lines? How good could they really be if someone who usually handicapped European soccer was now trying to make sense of eight chess grandmasters relative chances? As it turned out: pretty goddamn good. By the weekend I was down over .025 bitcoin on chess bets. How much was that worth in dollars anyway? Bitcoin had lost more than half its value in the past week. Was it even worth anything anymore? Had I lost even more than I thought? I tried not to think about it.

One night, as I placed my bets for the following days chess matches, I searched the internet for some help on handicapping the various games. After following a rabbit hole from Twitter to Reddit, I found a community of degenerate gamblers posting about betting on marble races. Curious, I clicked through to find a Twitch stream where a number of sports bettors were cash-apping money to a streamer to buy marbles in a virtual marble race. He was affable and amusing, soliciting customers like a carnival flat store man, barking out ballyhoo to his viewers and asking the winners to please tweet about their good fortune. Twenty dollars a marble! he called out. Only nine marbles left! Impulsively, I pulled out my phone and fired off $20 to him before I even understood how many marbles were in a race or what the winner was paid. I was so caught up in the spectacle of it all. Was this what it had all come to? Were we all really this desperate?

As the marbles raced down the virtual track, the streamer called them out like it was the Kentucky Derby. I couldnt even see my marble in the pack. Had there been a glitch? Was this a scam? But then I saw my marble. And then I heard the streamer calling my marbles name. My marble was in the lead! My heart raced. What was first prize? $1,700? Good God, marble, get there! One time! Baby needs to move out of this dump and into a place with more than one bathroom! The finish line was in sight. My marble was rolling ahead of the others, unobstructed. I was going to win. Then a marble named Trump2020 appeared behind me and knocked my marble off the track. As my marble descended over the edge and into the virtual void, Trump2020 plunked down into the cup that served as the finish line. The streamer exhorted us to cash app another $20 for the next race. I couldnt take the embarrassment. Ive done a lot of bad things in my life, especially when it came to gambling. Ive called three bets cold with king jack off-suit. Ive bet the horn high, yo in craps. Ive made too many NBA championship future bets on the Knicks to count. Ive lit money on fire. But this felt like a low point. What in the hell was I doing, especially now, on the precipice of disaster and ruin?

On March 18, MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren met with President Donald Trump at the White House to make a direct appeal for federal assistance to the casino industry during the economic crash created by the coronavirus crisis. He was putting himself in a long line of beggars that included executives from the cruise lines and the oil shale industry, all elbowing their way into the Oval Office to make sure they got their shot at a few hundred billion before the rest of us working stiffs could put up a fight for our measly $1,200. But Murren may have figured the casino business had a leg up on its competition for a bailout. After all, Trump was once a casino mogul himself. And Murrens predecessor at MGM, Steve Wynn, as well as the powerful multibillionaire gambling boss Sheldon Adelson, were big donors to Trump. Perhaps hed be more open to an appeal from the casino business than another.

Despite the trivial nature of their business, the casino industrys case would be simple to make. When Murren met with Trump, MGM had already laid off 70,000 workers, and many more casino employees and workers in associated businesses would feel the brunt of the shutdown as it wore on. According to the American Gaming Association, as of March 23, 973 casinos across the country have closed and about 650,000 employees have been affected. They claim that if the casinos stay shuttered for two months, it could cost more than $43 billion in lost revenue. Those numbers arent hard to believe. Gambling is a $260 billion industry, one that has made its CEOs and executives phenomenally wealthy. Where did all that money go? This is a business that doesnt sell any product. The vig is baked right in; the house can never lose. Casinos virtually print money. What happened to it all? Any gambler will tell you that even when you have the best of it, even when youre on the right side of that vig, youre going to hit a bad streak from time to time. If you dont have the bankroll to withstand it, what business do you have being in the game? The idea that the casino industry didnt have enough money socked away was absurd. It was a question of will, not resources. But it made me wonder about my own family, our dream to buy a house this year, our savings for our future. What was going to happen to us? Even if we managed to stay healthy, were we bankrolled for a pandemic? Was anybody?

After being cooped up in the house with three kids for so long, I needed a break. The stress of worrying about impending doom on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour basis was getting to me. I went for a drive to clear my head. Theres this diner on the New Jersey side of the border I like to go to when I need to write. At least thats what I tell my family, that I go there to get out of the house and get writing done. The real reason I like to go is that they always have the games on in there, and gambling online is legal in New Jersey. Sometimes I actually do get some writing done in that diner. Sometimes, when Im dealing with writers block, Ill ask the guy behind the counter to put on the game so I can log on to bet it. I found myself pulling into the parking lot purely on instinct. The diner, like almost every other business in New York or New Jersey, was closed. The McDonalds next door, however, was open for business. But customers werent allowed inside. Instead, a line stretched around the drive through and down the block. I pulled into the McDonalds parking lot and rolled down the windows. All around me were cars with people sitting by themselves eating, staring blankly at one another through their windshields.

I logged on to the DraftKings app on my phone. Even the skimpy and exotic betting options from a few days before were now gone. The app instead begged me to click on the virtual casino icon to play blackjack instead of bet on sports. They offered me this proposition: win seven hands in a row and share in a pot of $21,000. I texted a friend who is better than me at math and asked him what the odds were. He told me it was ()^7, or about 99-1. Fuck it. I fired away. The sound of my casino app, the coins and bells and whistles, caught the attention of the family in the van parked next to me. I looked over at them staring at me, each of them wearing a surgical mask, pulling it down each time one of them wanted to insert a fistful of French fries into their mouth. I rolled up my windows, partly out of shame and partly out of caution. I looked back down at my phone and closed the casino app. Then I opened up my bank app to check my 401(k). One sucker bet to the next. I had lost my marble for sure.

David Hills book, The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, Americas Forgotten Capital of Vice, is due out in July 2020. His website is davidhillonline.com.

Originally posted here:

The Perilous Future of Gambling in the Time of the Coronavirus - The Ringer