During the 1963rd year Las Vegas – the gambling heaven that never sleeps and never stops flashing its lights and joy – was shut down. It was when due to the President John Kennedy’s assassination and the national mourner and total politic crisis in the States. But a murderer of a leader such as Kenney was seems not to be the only reasons for Las Vegas to suffer from such a catastrophic disaster. Who would ever think that this might happen again? Who would even guess that a flu-like disease might make all gamblers not only from the United States of America, but also from all around the world, being banned from visiting their most beloved poker rooms, playing the newest slot machines, sitting at the card game tables to have the night of their lives?
Covid-19 was not, of course, a crisis that hit only Las Vegas. But the difference between the closed malls and supermarkets and the closed casinos in the American spot for gambling is kind of big. We would all eventually return to the shops to buy clothes, because we need to dress up and we will never stop eating food or paying bills, visiting institutions, etc. Will we stop gambling because of the paranoia of getting sick? As a matter of fact, this is quite possible to happen. Gambling is indeed an activity many people accept as an extra source for income. But let’s not forget that most of the businesses in Las Vegas are from the entertainment market. And the entertainment market was drastically neglected during the pandemic situation. It is just not as necessary as the rest of the economy fields seem to be. All of these lead us to a conclusion:
Offline casino experience might die soon
By all means experts claim that due to the Covid situation in Vegas. The process of the impact of online casino rooms over the physical casinos was not that cruel to all ground-based places for slots, card game and poker experience. People who preferred the old-fashioned activity in a ground casino were totally ok with the fact that there’s online alternative. They knew the pros of being in a real land-based casino and they appreciated them at a full value. Now, things are worse:
- 50% of the casinos in Las Vegas claim that it will take them at least 2 years to recover from the global pandemic shut down.
- Nearly 24% of the casinos in Las Vegas are not ready to open yet. They suffer from serious financial losses and opening again might mean for them even more losses.
- About 85% of the active and regular casino players are certain for not being yet ready to visit a real casino, especially by having in mind the precautious measures such as wearing a mask for protection as a killing pill for the authenticity in being in a real casino.
Will a poker player be still able to read the opponents at the poker table? If coronavirus is a guarantee for a shaking situation in the field, the parallel impact of online gambling emphasize on the possibility for future death of ground-based casinos.