Gambling Share Values Plummet Amid Covid-19 Pandemic, BGC Pleas For Job Protection

The concerns in connection with the current situation with Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to hit gambling industry hard, with share prices of companies and operators declining dramatically in the matter of days.

Dow Jones Gambling Index fell by 17.5% to 449.88 points, which is the lowest points since 2012. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is 8.4% which means gambling industry is worse off than most other verticals.

How Operators Fare

In the UK, William Hill took the most drastic decline as this operator share price falling 25.5% to $0.81 per share after all sporting events in the UK, but also in the world, suspended until further notice.

The company has said that it expects a big impact on its early revenue and earnings from the pandemic.

Flutter Entertainment – Paddy Power’s and FanDuel’s parent company – sad its share prices fall 12.2%. They too have warned that cancellation of sport events could lead to GBP 110 decline in earnings.

Their merger partner, The Stars Group, saw their price fall 17.7% since Friday. The PokerStars and Sky Bet operator said it has performed ahead of expectations and have warned that the outbreak of Covid-10 will impact the revenue from sports betting.

As far as other operators go, GVC Holdings saw their price fall 21.7%, Tabcorp’s share price fell 12.1%, Kindred’s 11.6%, while 888 Holdings took a dip of 12.5%.

Land-Based Operators Situation

In the US, casinos have closed their doors either by will or by the measures imposed in response to the outbreak of the disease.

MGM Resorts International’s share prices fell 22.3% to $12.00 when they announced the temporary closure of their venues including the one in Las Vegas.

Caesars Entertainment saw their prices of shares decline 22.2%. Penn National Gaming was affected even more – their prices fell 38.3%. Their shares have fallen 75% on just one month after peaking in February post-Barstool Sports acquisition.

Churchill Downs share prices fell 13.2% while Boyd Gaming saw their own fall by 15.9%.

What About Suppliers?

Scientific Games losses amounted to 30.4% decline – 79.9% since February 12th! Playtech took a somewhat softer blow – 10.6%. Snaitech has closed all of their retail shops in Italy, country that is hit the worst by the virus in Europe, while IGT saw its shares fall 12.7%.

An Outcry in the UK

In the UK, The Betting and Gaming Council has urged the UK Chancellor to provide help to save thousands of jobs in the gambling industry sector.

The UK Government has issued advice for people to practice social distancing and stop all non-essential travel. The Council wants the Government to come up with an emergency plan to help businesses and employees in gambling industry that will be impacted by these measures.

They have estimated that customer levels have dropped up to 90% at most casinos as more people self-isolate.

Source:

“Covid-19 wreaks havoc on gambling share prices”, igamingbusiness.com, March 17, 2020.

“BGC urges Chancellor to protect industry jobs amid Covid-19 concerns”, igamingbusiness.com, March 17, 2020.