Slow recovery for Spain’s gaming predicted

A leading Spanish academic has said that the impact of Covid-19 on the country’s gaming market could see the sector losing 27 per cent of its revenues and 24 per cent of its staff.

Professor José Antonio Gómez Yáñez, who is a noted expert on the gambling industry and professor of sociology at Madrid’s Carlos III University, has published an article on the potential impact of the pandemic on gaming in Spain. The article has been reproduced in the Spanish trade journal Azar.

Professor Gómez said that in addition another 10,000 to 15,000 jobs could be lost in the hospitality industry, which would include the bars that operate the country’s AWPs. The loss of revenue to the gaming industry would amount to something like €560m, but that was only up to April 25 and the impact could last much longer.

The country has closed all of its casinos, bingo halls, arcades and the betting and gaming machines in hotels, plus points of sale venues. Spain has (in 2019) revenues of  €4.5bn in “face-to-face” gaming and employed in that year 48,000 people, plus 50,000 in hospitality.

Professor Gómez says that three scenarios remain possible: the partial reopening of locations over a two-month period; demand in transition, meaning about 65 per cent of customers would return to normal; and demand in recovery, with between 75 and 85 per cent of customers returning, which would be towards the end of August or September.

He believes that a long period of progressive recovery will result, with the industry returning to normal in 2021. Professor Gómez concluded: “Naturally, these forecasts may not be fulfilled and the economy will rebound and require only a little time, but for a sector that obeys the feeling of optimism and security of its customers, such as the entertainment game, the described climate leads to thinking of a slow recovery from levels prior to March 16.”