Is the traditional gambling industry ready to reopen?!
Everyone is waiting for this moment, be they operators, manufacturers or players.
Of course, health security measures will have to be strictly adhered to in order not to spread the coronavirus infection that led, in mid-March, to the forced closure of all locations.
Taking the temperature at the entrance to the venue, the small number of players, points with dispensers with hand sanitizer, plexiglass panels between the machines or moving/ rearranging the devices for the best possible physical distance, gloves and masks, both for employees and players, this is the new nature we need to get used to from the moment it opens and for a period of time that no one can determine.
As we have seen in locations that have reopened in other countries, the images are somewhat desolate with so many security measures, and the small number of players received in the halls seems to show more sadness than fun, but the main thing is that the gaming industry luckily restarts after a rather long break, a break that caused huge losses to both operators and the State Budget.
Who will open it remains to be seen, but analysts in the field assume that about 20-25% of operators will remain behind closed doors after this crisis.
Probably, once the industry is restarted, mergers, acquisitions and who knows what other movements will be on the gambling market in our country will follow.
With the reopening, we will see how many of the players return to the gaming floors, after a period in which they played on-line, but also how much they will allow themselves to play after the crisis, which certainly thinned their income.
Of course, with the reopening, there will be problems with marketing plans for both campaigns that were underway at the time of the shutdown and new post-covid campaigns, campaigns that must add new elements of attractiveness for locations so hard tried.
There will also be problems for equipment suppliers, suppliers that have stagnated during the crisis, but which, once restarted, will have to recover their money from an extremely sensitive and volatile market.
The reopening of the gaming halls will mean, for everyone, another step towards normalcy before the crisis, when the game locations meant a way of fun and pleasant leisure.
The restart of the industry will show us who had the ability to withstand this unprecedented global crisis, how it will attract its customers, but also how long it will take until the market rebalances and losses are recovered.
Is the traditional gambling industry ready to reopen?!
