The Decline Of Europe's B&M Casinos

Representatives of the European Casino Association (ECA) said that the offline gambling industry in Europe is going through its hard times. Due to social restrictions and lockdowns that took place in 2020, all B&M venues were closed for about 140 days, which led to serious financial losses. Despite the fact that vaccinations are in full swing and many gambling establishments have taken serious measures to prevent the spread of the virus, about 70% of casinos are still out of business. As a result, about 20,000 casino employees lost their jobs. While most land-based casinos are still unable to receive visitors in 2021, the exception is the gambling establishments of Monaco, Spain and Luxembourg. Notably, the pandemic has dealt the hardest hit to Swedish casinos that were forced to close throughout the year.

Casinos were closed for an average of 136 days in 2020, and the vast majority of operators have been unable to welcome guests in 2021.

Curiously, many ECA members still do not have exact dates for the reopening of their business. Notably, about 900 European casinos were represented at ECA with a total of 70,000 employees. However, now the number of casino workers has decreased to 50,000 people.

According to Per Jaldung, Chairman of the ECA, the European land-based casino industry has never experienced such a difficult time. It will undoubtedly take a very long time to get back on line. Most importantly, many casino workers continue to lose their jobs. Moreover, the closure of land-based gambling establishments in one way or another affected about 130,000 employees of both casinos and cooperating restaurants and various entertainment zones. In this regard, many employees are looking forward to the moment when some of the too strict measures - limited opening hours, limited sets of offered gambling options, etc. - will be relaxed. Undoubtedly, the land-based casino industry needs support like never before.