Per Jaldung: European land-based casinos “very far” from business as usual
Data released by the European Casino Association (ECA) shows the extent to which the European casino sector has suffered financially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Land-based casinos were closed for an average of 136 days in 2020, with 70% of casinos on the continent still closed.
On average, properties lost an average of over 37% of normal operating days in 2020, according to ECA figures, while revenues have fallen by over 50% over the last 12 months.
Pre-pandemic, ECA members (forming 900 European casinos) employed more than 70,000 members of staff – this is estimated to fall to 50,000 post-pandemic.
ECA chairman Per Jaldung commented: “This is the deepest trough the European land-based casino industry has ever experienced.
“The financial impact of the pandemic on the land-based casino sector has been extreme, and these numbers show the economic realities of COVID-19 on the European land-based casino sector.
“Some casinos have closed permanently, and many casino employees have lost their jobs. We are under no illusion that the industry can return to ‘business as usual’ any time soon. We are, as a matter of fact, very far from business as usual.”
Jaldung spoke exclusively to Gambling Insider for the CEO Special of the magazine earlier this year, where he went into further detail about the struggles land-based casinos currently face.
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