Sudipta Saha  /   3 minutes

The coronavirus or covid-19 virus has had a significant impact on the gaming industry across the globe. This disease has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It has hit hard so far, with over 532,224 confirmed cases, over 24,000 deaths, and 124,326 recovered cases.

With the virus pandemic spreading among people within proximity, through either bodily fluids such as saliva and mucus, most governments have taken drastic measures to contain the deadly virus. The banning of social events or gatherings is being carried out in most countries, including sports events. Other Countries have even taken stringent measures such as nationwide lockdowns to try and contain the pandemic. So how has the Covid 19 affected the gaming industry?

In this article, we are going to find out some it’s the ripple effects.

1. Closure of Land-Based Casinos and Revenue Loss

Land-based casinos have adversely been affected by the pandemic. Coronavirus has led to the shutdown of popular casino destinations such as Macau to contain infection numbers. The closure of the popular casino brands has hence led to the decline in the land-based casino activities globally.

The closure of casinos to curb the virus has led to substantial revenue losses in the industry; this is due to the travel restrictions imposed in most of the popular gambling destinations like Las Vegas to prevent the spread of disease. The revenue loss is brought about by temporarily banning tourists from the gambling nations.

2. Online Casino Gaming On The Rise

The online casino activities are on the increase since the closure of most land-based casinos. Avid gamblers have shifted their focus from land-based casinos to online casinos where they can continue to enjoy gaming either while in self-isolation or quarantine.

3. Postponement of major sporting events

The pandemic has wreaked havoc across the entire sports scene as significant sporting events have either been canceled or postponed due to the increasing number of infections, even for top elite sportsmen.

As a direct consequence, the gaming industry has also been affected since the gambler has no games to wager on.

Below are some of the major sporting events that have been affected during the pandemic.

1. Football

The Premier League Football Association and EFL declared that for the safety of the fans and also the players from the pandemic, all professional football matches in England would not take place until the 30th of April.

UEFA has also postponed the Euro 2020 games. The games are expected to resume in the 2021 summer. Lastly, the Euro 2020 playoffs are on an international break with the games scheduled to reopen in June 2020.

2. Olympics and Paralympics

The other major sporting event postponed this year is the Olympics and Paralympics. The International Olympic Committee concluded delaying the games for one year to counter the spread of coronavirus.

3. Cricket

In a move to prevent the coronavirus pandemic, the ECB has postponed all professional cricket games until the 28th of May 2020. The England test series against Sri Lanka was delayed and also the Indian premier league series being moved from March to April 2020 as a precaution.

4. Motorsport

The Formula One governing body has authorized the shutdown of major racing events across the globe. The season-opening Australian Grand Prix was postponed due to the pandemic. Races in China, Spain, Bahrain, Netherland, and Vietnam races were delayed along with the Monaco Gp.

Lastly, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Formula E, Nascar, and the Le Mans 24-hour race scheduled for this year were suspended.

5. Rugby Union

The RFU has ended all the league, cup, and county rugby in England except the premiership, which is currently in a five-week suspension. The PR014, super rugby, and rugby Australia suspended indefinitely.

The South African cup, the challenge cup, and also the welsh rugby Union canceled all the league games of this season.

6. Boxing and MMA

The British Boxing Board of Control and also the MMA have officially postponed all their significant events citing the coronavirus pandemic. For Boxing, the London Olympic qualifiers, Japan major boxing events, and Madison square garden main events were postponed.

The MMA president has also announced that he will be postponing UFC London fights and Bellator 241 events.

Conclusion

The corona pandemic has tremendously affected the gaming industry and lives too. We are therefore encouraged to take all precautionary measures against the epidemic to stay safe.