GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 49 - April 2021

BACK TO THE FUTURE he COVID-19 pandemic saw international hubs such as Las Vegas and Macau become ghost towns virtually overnight. The ban on sporting events impacted sportsbooks all over the world. And regulators attempted to take early steps to ensure the lockdown and shift to a more digitally driven world did not directly result in increased player activity. All of this did not bode well for the sector. It seemed that all non-essential businesses, and especially those in the leisure and hospitality sector, including betting and gam- bling, would be more severely impacted than others. Alongside the regulatory precautions, betting and gambling is a leisure activity linked to disposable income, and something people chose to do for mainly entertainment and with money they can afford to spare. Uncertainty about jobs and economic downturns will have an impact. People also get into the ‘habit’ of doing things. Those who previously placed bets or gambled out of habit (for example, watching the game with friends, or social visits to the casino or bingo hall) have their pattern of behavior disrupted, some will return to old habits in better times, but some will not. Then there is the big shift in societal attitudes. The pandemic has shone a light on equalities in society and generated discussion about business practices and ethics, especially those who have profited at a time when most are struggling to survive. For gam- bling — a hugely divisive topic even in the best of times — to fall into this category would not be good. And the presumption Human beings are surprisingly resistant to change. In times of crisis, people take comfort in finding different ways to continue the things they enjoy, and where this is not possible, in the knowl- edge that the crisis will pass, and that at some point things will go back to “normal.” The periodic lifting of lockdown and speedy development of vaccines means that, for many, the pandemic is more a point in time, a pause on normality, not a catalyst for any great long-term change in habit or behavior. Nowhere does this trend seem more evident than in betting and gambling. Findings from Gambling Commission of Great Britain in early 2021 suggested an increase in gambling during the months of March through December 2020, not a decline. According to its research, the online market grew in “a tradi- tionally busy period” with a 6% rise in the number of active player accounts and 12% rise in bets, resulting in a 30% rise in gross revenues, driven, in part, by strong sports-betting mar- gins. This against a backdrop of decreasing sponsorship and mainstream marketing and advertising, and increased social responsibility measures. With the rest of the world also placing player safety and harmminimization at the top of their agendas , savvy affiliates will already be shifting their strategy from one of “spend” to one of social responsibility and sustainability , especially in those markets where operators are held accountable for marketing done in their name. at the start of the pandemic was that the longer this went on, the more ingrained these changes in habits would become. And indeed, the early indications suggested that the numbers of people gambling had gone down, leading to fears that the impact of the pandemic on customers betting and gambling habits could be long term. This was at the start of the pandemic however. A year later, the latest formation suggests that things may not be as bleak as feared. G P W A t i m e s . o r g 30