Business Insider Edition
#FeatureByNZGamblingCommission
Las Vegas, often jokingly called the Disneyland for adults, among many other things, is undoubtedly a top US tourist destination. In the 1950s, it morphed from a dreary desert town to America’s number one gambling hub and later the world’s premium gaming destination. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, around forty-two million people visited Las Vegas casinos annually. With many arriving to get a taste of the varied shows the City of Lights provides, the world-class dining, and take in its magnificent sights.
Yes, the number of attractions here is vast and diverse. While gambling is an essential part of the Vegas experience, the city has also grown beyond it, offering other forms of entertainment that, as a whole, likely overshadow the allure of the thousands of games of chance hosted in this 141.84 square mile area. Naturally, platforms have also played their part in lowering the need for people to visit this Mojave Desert spot to chase chance-based riches.
Pre-pandemic, Las Vegas’ yearly revenue peak was an impressive $12.8 billion, notched in 2007. Though, it is worth noting that, then and now, Vegas was and is not the planet’s premier location in this category class.
The former Portuguese colony of Macau in China long overtook Nevada’s most populous region, and the state as a whole, in terms of annual revenues. In 2019, Macau generated more than $29 billion in gaming cash, almost half of what USA online casino sites pulled in that same year.
Below, we get into the current financial state of Las Vegas and how have real-money casino sites impacted America’s favorite gaming stopping place’s bottom line.
How is Vegas Recovering from the Pandemic?
In 2020, Las Vegas casinos experienced an unprecedented shock as Nevada’s government forced them to close their doors for seventy-eight days from May to June of that year. Of course, this was to reduce COVID-19 spread among the state’s population and its tourists. Without argument, this was a trying time that caused many local gaming enthusiasts to turn to online gambling sites, with many sites that feature identical slot machines and table games to those found on MGM resorts international’s and other famous Vegas casinos’ floors.
Credit card deposits at internet gambling sites in the US and every corner of the globe increased dramatically in 2020. And most sector analysts predicted that it would take Vegas around three years to rebound from this crisis. Yet, living up to its reputation, The World’s Entertainment Capital bounced back fantastically from dire straits, as in 2021, according to Nevada’s Gaming Control Board, it raked in an all-time high of over $13.4 billion in pre-tax gaming figures. So, Vegas’ brick-and-mortar casinos had never seen a better year, with the state’s gaming market thriving like never before.
That said, fears now have emerged that high gas prices and an impending recession could cause sizeable harm to the United States’ casino industry. As the stock market continues tumbling and interest rates rise, these will unquestionably affect mortgages, vehicles, and credit cards to cost more. Therefore, many expect to see fiat and crypto casinos get a further user base boost in the year to come due to these happenings in the global economy.
Have Online Casinos Done Any Damage to Sin City?
Interestingly enough, no. Even though the online gambling sphere is on course to start pulling in yearly revenues of $158 billion in the next six years, clearly, its expansion is occurring by attracting different demographics than those that like to visit land-based gambling venues.
Traditionally, online casinos are able to entice users with casino bonus offers and promotion programs — although many land-based casinos aren’t far behind. If players are able to find different value in an online and brick-and-mortar experience, it’s likely that these two sides of the gambling industry will likely continue to grow alongside each other.
However, metaverse casinos and live dealer games further bring elements of the social interaction found at physical locales to the digital sphere. So, they threaten to lure in more land-based players online, as the differences between playing over the internet and in-person become more and more negligible.
Do Live Dealer Games Pose the Biggest Threat?
Pioneered in 2003 by Playtech, live streaming dealers exploded only in the last few years. This is because mobile technology and internet penetration finally reached a point where these games can get played remotely from anywhere at any time.
Moreover, on account of their popularity, operators now advertise lucrative bonus deals connected to live table classics and games like slots and blackjack. Plus, game providers are now also not shy about hosting VIP rooms, where the max bet sizes go up to several thousands of dollars.
Things are not only evening up in the table game realm, offline and online, but the latter sphere is gaining an advantage due to it incorporating a mix of classic gameplay paired with RNG-powered one. That blend has brought forward a new genre of novel games that only online casinos host.
Are Online Slots More Popular Than Land-Based Ones?
Going by the latest estimates, around twenty thousand online reel-spinners exist. That is probably a far greater number than the figure for land-based machines. Nevertheless, a premium Las Vegas casino has a few thousand of these devices, and only Curacao-regulated gambling sites can match these numbers.
Furthermore, the land-based slot record is a prize of $39.7 million won at the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas in 2003. For comparison, the online reward milestone is $23.6 million, which got landed in April 2021 at the Napoleon Sports & Casino. Does this mean that land-based slots are still more popular than internet ones? The best estimation is that both types are comparably popular in their respective spheres, and a global pandemic impacted the business of both online and land-based casinos.
What can we state with some confidence regarding the US gambling industry? That’s that online sports betting is now definitely dominating the retail sector, with deposits at legalized online mobile sports apps skyrocketing in many states. One may say that this betting sector is amidst a similar evolution that card gambling went through in the early-2000s during the online poker boom.
—
#FeaturedPost #FeatureByNZGamblingCommission
Thanks for signing up for our daily insight on the African economy. We bring you daily editor picks from the best Business Insider news content so you can stay updated on the latest topics and conversations on the African market, leaders, careers and lifestyle. Also join us across all of our other channels – we love to be connected!
© 2022 africa.businessinsider.com
About Author
