Online-Gambling thrives due to COVID-19

The lethal virus fails to stop the American gamblers.

As the American continent got struck with the COVID-19 pandemic, its gambling industry went into a temporary slumber. Despite hundreds of Americans coming down with the coronavirus every week, they wouldn't get deterred from defying the stay-at-home orders and descend to Las Vegas in anticipation of its partial reopening on June 4th. Las Vegas casinos saw an abundance of customers swarming the places, sitting around the tables wearing masks.

US laws a bane for online-gamblers.

Regardless of the deadly pandemic, gambling lovers couldn't be kept away from their games for a long time. Their desire for gambling is understandable, though. Due to online betting being legally restricted by the US authorities, the American high-rollers have struggled to find another alternative for gambling in casinos during the  COVID-19 pandemic. The British gamblers, however, are legally allowed to gamble and bet online under the lockdown, but the Americans face a wide assortment of state laws that provide them limited options for legitimate remote betting.

  Despite some American states legalizing online gambling, the market has just debuted and is still relatively small. The American state of Delaware legalized online table games, Free slot in 2012, followed by its neighboring New Jersey- home to the East Coast's long-established casino capital, Atlantic City- in 2013. Pennsylvania unrolled its online-gambling market last year in 2019. Although Nevada permits online poker games since the year 2013, it still has a ban on other casino-style virtual games. 

The online-gambling industry thrives under the pandemic.

Following the COVID-19 lockdown, the gambling and gaming industry has leaped the online platforms. The four states with legal online poker sites- Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware- saw a potential increase in the online gaming industry. All four of them reported record-high online gaming yield. The gamblers in these states took an advantage of the lenient local laws, and went up to the online sites for gaming and gambling, giving a massive boost to the online gaming industry.

Delaware's online casinos expanded its revenues by two-thirds. New Jersey's profit shot-up by 23%. The online poker rooms of Nevada- the country's gambling hub- recorded escalating traffic just after the lockdown. It reported an increase of more than 90%, as compared to the same month last year.

However, these four states make up only 8% of America's population, and online-gambling is restricted across state lines- a law enforced by online casinos. They use the "geofencing" technology to collect Wi-Fi data, GPS data, and the IP address of the users, so that they can make sure that their would-be gambler's phone or computer is inside the state. This technology restricts the gamblers residing in states that still ban online-gambling from using online-gaming sites outside the state lines.

Sports-betting: Here to save the day?

   Due to a lack of monitoring and surveillance, the US sports betting industry has historically been shrouded in mystery. All these restrictions on the online-gaming industry leave the gamblers with another obvious option; betting on sports. The Supreme Court withdrew Las Vegas's monopoly on sports-betting two years ago. This allowed eighteen American states to establish their sports-betting markets, permitting over 100 million Americans to bet legally with their local bookmakers. 

   This gave rise to an emerging industry. Since the Supreme Court's decision of withdrawing monopoly from Las Vegas, Draftkings, and FanDuel- two firms that used to combine fantasy sports and pure wagering- have started taking bets on sports across the country. Also, the traditional casino companies have expanded their sports-betting operations beyond Nevada.  

Pandemic hits the gambling industry right in the spine.

   However, the gambling industry, as a whole, has taken a direct hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. With almost all of the North American professional-sports leagues inert, bookmakers have shifted towards South Korean Baseball and Belarusian football. E-sports have also attracted a lot of attention during the pandemic and bring in a vast number of viewers. But none of these has as much grip over the customers as the Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, or the National Basketball Association. Sports gambles at bookmakers in New Jersey decreased by 68% in April this year.

   Still, the investors are optimistic. DraftKing shares saw a double in their price since they were listed in April. Baseball, Hockey, Basketball league are all probably returning this summer, and the National Football League still plans its annual autumn kick-off. This means that the gamblers wary of visiting crowded casinos may turn to sports betting as an accessible form of gambling, keeping in check the social distancing guidelines. 

The government's time-worn revenue-raising tactic brings new hope for online-gamblers.

   Online-gaming and gambling may become easier for gamblers. What with the government's finances drained by limited business activities and increased spending, the authorities might turn to the time-worn tactic of raising the revenue- legalizing a black market industry and taxing it.

   Washington State, Virginia, Oklahoma have all legalized sports-betting in some ways since the onset of the pandemic. Legalization to do the same is being considered in Ohio and Massachusetts. Other states that have already legalized online sports-betting may permit broader online betting. 

The bottom line.

   Online-gaming and Online-gambling are already a booming industry and are set to explode even further in years to come. Even though most online casinos are illegal, and sports leagues are shut down, other outlets are always available. Offshore online casinos, most often in the Philippines or Gibraltar, evade the American regulators and scrape in billions in bets from Americans every year.