H2 Gambling Capital, a global market intelligence and research firm, is expecting the global gambling market to fall 8 percent in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the biggest fall in nearly twenty years.
“COVID-19 has already had a significant impact on China’s gambling market and those of neighboring Macau and Singapore. Macau’s February 2020 games of fortune gross win came in at just MOP3.10bn, just under 88% lower than the corresponding level in 2019.”
H2 has also revised its forecast for Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea, with a fall of 4.8 percent compared to its pre-COVID-19 forecast.
According to the research firm, the SARS outbreak in 2002/2003 did not have anywhere near the impact on the global gambling industry.
However, the movement restrictions caused by the virus is likely to contribute to the growth of online gambling, with global gambling gross increasing from 13.4 percent to 14.7 percent in 2020. This could increase to 15 percent if the outbreak lasts into the second quarter.
H2 however, stressed that it has made no changes to its forecasts for 2021 and beyond.
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