Football player man kicking the ball when his opponent trying to tackle the ball on the football field at stadium

It is been a few months now since all sports leagues have been stopped or delayed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented lack of activities around the globe. And with the spread of the infection, the betting industry is facing major issues to keep their clients’ attention. But where there’s a problem there is also an opportunity.

The impact over the industry
With the onset of the pandemic, almost every government suspended all activities leading to the gatherings of large groups of people. Stadiums and sports halls remained empty. As a result, land-based bookies lost the most. Those who ran online branches immediately redirected their resources towards them in order to minimize losses. Bookmakers tried to popularize alternative gambling activities like online casinos and virtual sports betting. The rest, which count on betting shops are expecting the worst.

On the other hand, online bookmakers could face prosperity. Most of them have developed a sportsbook as well as a casino section. The transition between them can be accomplished a lot easier and platforms like BET365 reported downs of just over 25% at the beginning of April.

Online casino games are countless and all gamblers can find something to fill the gap.

Casino and Electronic games
Usually, games like blackjack, roulette, and poker have a lot of fans. Many of them are loyal to a few websites while others are constantly searching for something new. Online casinos are trying to attract new players. Even though the customer pool looks large, it’s not that easy. Competition is severe and everyone is fighting for a piece of the pie. Sports punters are a relatively large group and most of them stick to betting only. But now they have to choose between freezing their hobby or changing it. Sometimes what they call love to sport is pure gambling addiction and therefore a new source for fun is needed.

The amazing features and innovative solutions available today are just too attractive. The opportunity to play live roulette no matter where you are could be a good choice. At least until the pandemic is over and the leagues are ready to kick off again.

Online slots are a perfect way to spend some time staying at home. The variety of titles and themes is so vast that you can truly lose yourself. Live blackjack, backgammon, baccarat and dozens of poker variations are also waiting to enchant and mesmerize you.

However, for dedicated fans of team sports, online bookies are offering another temptation. You can now enjoy a-few-minutes electronic matches in all formats – football, basketball, volleyball, horse-racing, etc. There are a lot of ways to place your bets – exact score, winner, number of goals or points, etc. Immediately after one match is over another start. You can do it for unlimited time and see if you win pretty quickly.

Because of the call to stay home, eSports are gathering a lot of spectators, too. A football match of FIFA in the UK had several million views just a couple of weeks ago.

Wasn’t all that dangerous?
European gambling regulators and authorities have recently expressed their concerns. They are worried that the current situation in addition to the innate feeling of competing can lead to increases in addiction cases. Naturally, some of the people who are doing that are developing a problem. Based on studies the standard rate is just above 1%. But if we look closer and draw statistics for those who are choosing to play casino games, the number jumps to about 9-10%. And that is already worrying.

That’s why some European countries have already applied restrictions at least until emergency state is over. Some are more liberal than others and are only putting limits on the daily or weekly bets. Others completely banned those activities and put the gaming companies in front of decisions they never thought will have to take. A few months ago no one could guess that the world will be left with no live sports activities.

Trying to move the attention of their customers in a different direction many companies started aggressive advertising. Despite that is normal and could be expected, it also affects human mentality. In order to limit the threats of such behavior, related ads were restricted either completely or partially with a few-hours window during the small hours.

Final words
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing massive changes in the way we live, work and entertain. Many businesses including the gaming industry are suffering and struggling to adapt. Luckily for some, there are suitable alternatives to be offered. It seems that gambling like any other vice is easier to be converted instead of stopping it. But is it wise? Well, there’ll always be contradictions about that. So it might be a good idea to try and not lose our focus because everything else is just a temporary situation.