"We expect to see a prolonged period of fluctuation between online and land-based sides"

Slotegrator, a global iGaming aggregator and software provider, has analyzed the changes that the gambling industry experienced, prompted by the events of the last two years. In a new article, the company delves into the dramatic shift in balance between offline and online establishments.

In 2020, land-based casinos’ GGR collapsed due to the worldwide lockdowns imposed by authorities to contain the spread of Covid-19. Slotegrator cites Monte Carlo Casino’s example, whose revenues fell by 48% year-on-year. The Las Vegas Strip’s casinos’ revenues fell by 43.3%, and in Macau, the GGR dropped by nearly 80%.

On the other hand, online casinos registered record revenues, with year-on-year increases up to 80.6% in already established markets such as Italy, in December 2020, according to Slotegrator's analysis. In contrast with this display of resilience, online sportsbooks at first struggled due to their dependence on real-life events, highlighting the fragility they share with land-based establishments.

The online casino bubble of early 2020 was replaced by year end with a more balanced growth for the entire online sector, with online sportsbooks registering record revenues and reclaiming much of their market share, the company notes. This growth was only partially tempered by the reopening of land-based establishments in 2021, and the offline sector’s recovery is constantly threatened by changes in external circumstances, with new dips in GGR following Covid outbreaks and related lockdowns.

Among the conclusions, Slotegrator states: "As we’ve seen, the situation is still very much in flux, but there are some takeaways. In short, we expect to see a prolonged period of fluctuation — with the online and land-based sides of the industry taking turns in a boom-and-bust cycle — until the end of this period of disruption. And the longer this lasts, the better it is for online operators, as players will get more and more accustomed to their product, leading eventually to lower churn rates upon brick-and-mortar reopenings."

The full analytical article from Slotegrator is already available on its website.