Perhaps the most pertinent way of assessing gaming’s new landscape is not by viewing online and land-based separately, but rather evaluating acceleration in the convergence of the two.
While the land-based sector was at a standstill, the state of New Jersey best exemplified the divide, with the Garden State’s main headline being a record fall in overall revenue for April, and online revenue more than doubling to a record $80m.
Faced with a choice between online revenue and none at all, therefore, land-based properties can no longer afford to take a judgemental view. This is especially true of the period ahead where, as Causley has pointed out, casinos can expect reduced handle.
In fact, the Lightning Box CEO believes the next 12 months could see staggering levels of progress in this area. “We had already seen great convergence of slot design for land-based and online a few years ago,” he explains.
“Now we will definitely see those largely retail-operating businesses accelerating towards getting into digital or growing their existing digital revenues, even if only to balance up their risk profiles.
“We could see growth towards this outcome in the next 12 months that we would have previously expected to take 10 years. This of course will just mirror what we see in the general business community.”
