A survey held of the UK Government found that most gambling operators have experienced a revenue decline of no less than 50% year-on-year because of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.
The research, called the Coronavirus Business Survey, was conducted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Around 4,000 businesses from various industries in the UK took part in the survey in the period from April 23rd to May 22nd, 2020. The major objective of the survey was to find out what impact has the coronavirus outbreak been having on local businesses from the middle of March. Gambling companies were some of the businesses that took part in the survey, with the results showing they have been seriously affected by the lockdown measures imposed to tackle the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
According to the results of the survey, since the UK Government rolled out the lockdown measures on local businesses on March 23rd, 30 gambling businesses that took part in the survey saw a 100% revenue decline year-on-year, with the revenue decline being in the range between 50% and 99% for 14 of these businesses. Eight gambling business of the ones that participated in the survey suffered a revenue fall of between 1% and 49%, while two other businesses reported that their revenue rose or remained the same during the coronavirus lockdown.
Most Gambling Companies Believe They Will Remain Viable for about Six Months in the Current Conditions
Apart from the losses suffered by gambling businesses during the lockdown, the DCMS survey also revealed that most of them have been reliant on the furlough scheme unveiled by the Government. The majority of gambling businesses (32) furloughed between 75% and 100% of their workforce, three operators chose to furlough between 50% and 74% of its workers, while only one furloughed between 1% and 24% of the employees. A total of 20 gambling businesses have not taken advantage of the scheme.
The opinions of gambling operators on whether their businesses would remain viable during the lockdown period remained divided. Twenty gambling businesses have shared that they would hardly be able to continue trading as a viable entity under threat in the period from the time when then they participated in the survey until the middle of July, while 20 others said there was no threat for their operations.
After taking into consideration the actions taken by the authorities to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from spreading further across the country, nine gambling businesses said they would be able to continue their existence as viable entities in the current conditions for one to three months, and 40 others said they would most likely be able to continue trading as such for between three to six months, or more than six months. Two gambling businesses, however, explained that they have ceased trading.
- Author
Olivia Cole
