Coronavirus Causes Casino Closures As Online Gambling Goes Viral

In the popular global gambling market, there are two regions that outshine all others: Las Vegas and Macau.

While the former is the largest gaming hub in the US, Macau is the largest gaming hub in the world. The Chinese city is home to over 40 world-class casino resorts and sees traffic of some 30 million visitors per year. Fully 75% of those visitors gamble, with Macau earning about US$30 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) annually.

But this year, with the spread of the deadly coronavirus, visits to the region are plummeting.

Worse, with 10 confirmed cases of the disease in Macau itself, authorities have made the decision to close all Macau casinos for at least the next 15 days. Additionally, ancillary retail venues like bars, discos, clubs, cinemas, arcades, and massage parlours have also been shuttered.   

While this is a major blow for the local gambling market, Chief Executive Ho lat Seng – the head of the Macau government – saw no way around the closures.

“It was a hard decision, but we must make it for the health of Macau residents. Macau can still withstand economic losses.”

However, those economic losses won’t be tolerable forever, and they’ve already been significant, even before the casinos were shuttered.

Last year, Macau posted a drop in gambling revenue of 3.4 percent, taking in a total GGR of US$36.5 billion. This was the industry’s first decline in three years, and the outbreak of coronavirus has caused a reduction in both tourism rates and stock prices for popular gaming venues like the MGM China and Wynn Macau.

The quarantine duration for coronavirus is currently recommended at 14 days, which is exactly in line with the Macau casino closure timeline. Per Ho, if the viral spread is “stable” after two weeks, the local government will “immediately resume” all normal gambling and tourist operations.

Of course, the closures could last much longer, especially if the viral outbreak continues to gain steam in China and beyond. In that case, gamblers in the region could be out of options.

But they don’t have to be.

If you live in or near Macau, you can still gamble online, despite the fact that no domestic Chinese operator offers real money online gambling opportunities. You can access Internet-based slots, table games, poker rooms, and sportsbooks via offshore betting sites like BetOnline and SportsBetting AG. These reputable online gambling sites legally accept players from Macau.

The coronavirus has already served as a wakeup call for many gamblers, with Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators – or POGOs – seeing huge increases in volume during the last month.

According to Jason Ader of SpringOwl Asset Management, the surge has far-reaching potential implications.

“Daily online gambling is up 90% over the Lunar New Year holiday compared to last year. That’s an unbelievable number, and it raises the issue of should land-based operators be converging around the world with online operators. That’s really the growing trend.”

POGOs have long been a thorn in the side of Beijing, as they attract Chinese gamblers and their money in a manner that China itself cannot directly control. This only happens, of course, because China considers online gambling to be a danger to the community.

But now, online gambling seems like a markedly safer, more societally friendly option than playing in brick-and-mortar venues. Whether or not China ultimately agrees with that assessment remains to be seen, but individuals who wish to play over the Internet can do so legally – and now far more safely – by using offshore solutions.