Some casino officials in Iowa have shared their concern that they could lose business to the state of Nebraska after residents there gave the green light to commercial gambling.
As explained by Iowa casino officials, they fear that at the time commercial casinos are established in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, they could seriously affect Iowa state’s gaming revenues. Gambling venue owners said they are particularly worried about Council Bluffs, where four casinos currently operate. Sioux City, Sloan and Onawa are the rest of the border towns in Iowa that offer casino gambling.
While many industries have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic and will suffer economically for some time, the online casino industry has been thriving as gamblers move from brick-and-mortar. The biggest difficulty that the net casinos are facing right now is the fact that the virus is now affecting the game players that are visiting the internet casinos. The virus has already been identified and the internet casinos are working hard to remove the virus, which can reduce the number of visitors to the online casinos. The coronavirus has hit hard the Macau casinos and stocks like MGM, Wynn and Las Vegas Sands. It's a wake-up call to the Chinese government about online gambling, says one analyst.
The addition of commercial casino gambling in Nebraska could turn out a severe blow to Iowa casino venues that have already been suffering due to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The president of the Iowa Gaming Association, Wes Ehrecke, confirmed that Iowa casinos are still trying to tackle the negative impact that the Covid-19 crisis had on the market due to the lengthy lockdown period that affected the gambling venues’ performance and profitability. According to him, the legalization of commercial casino gambling in the state of Nebraska will result in an even more serious negative effect on local casino businesses.
Nebraska Voters Approved Three Casino Gambling-Related Constitutional Amendments
How Has Online Gambling Affected The Casino Businesses
How Has Online Gambling Affected The Casino Business Card
Last week, about two-thirds of Nebraska voters voted in favor of three proposed constitutional amendments aimed at making casino gambling legal at the six licensed horse tracks across the state. The approved constitutional amendments were also aimed at making sure the industry would be regulated, and part of the casino gambling revenue will be used as a tax credit for property owners.
How Has Online Gambling Affected The Casino Business Cards
The supporters of commercial casino gambling at licensed racetracks across the territory of Nebraska aim at opening casinos as soon as possible and then expand them to larger venues, including hotel and hospitality parts, dining areas and other amenities. The campaigners have shared their hopes to reclaim a significant part of the money that Nebraska residents spend at casinos in Iowa and other states on an annual basis, with the amount being estimated at approximately $500 million.
This was confirmed by the general manager of Horseman’s Park in Omaha and Lincoln Race Course, Michael Newlin. Mr. Newlin shared that, according to him, the newly-allowed casinos will help the state boost its horse racing industry because their profits will end up increasing races’ prizes. He further noted that the local horse racing industry has been suffering a decline for years now and a little help would not be bad for the sector.
Mr. Newlin further projected that the addition of commercial casino gambling at local racetracks would help racing mark growth in three to five years. His Iowa-based proponents, however, are not convinced that new casinos would have a significant impact on horse racing in Nebraska.
One of the biggest myths of iGaming is that it hurts brick and mortar casino business. The general idea is that if people can play at home they won’t need to visit casinos and jobs would be lost. The sentiment from iGaming North America panelists was clear, this is not the case.
In the first panel of the day, Senator Raymond Lesniak from New Jersey stated that Chris Christie signed the New Jersey iGaming bill to help save struggling Atlantic City casinos. With online gambling revenue, brick and mortar casinos would have a better shot of staying open and keep land-based jobs that were potentially at risk. Although this didn’t help Atlantic Club Casino-Hotel, many other struggling Atlantic City casinos are hoping online gambling can help them return to profitability.
Mitch Garber CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment was very clear that online gambling does not hurt brick and mortar casinos and in many cases, it’s two different types of clientèle. He pointed out that the next generation of casino players will want to play online. Casinos need to cater to where the players will be, and he believes that iGaming compliments brick and mortar casinos. He also mentioned that when internet gaming was at it’s highest in the US and UK, land-based casino revenue was as well.
In the last panel of the day Chris Sheffield, managing director of Betfred, said that he sees no cannibalization between online and offline gaming. Betfred currently operates 1,378 store locations in the United Kingdom as well as an online casino, sportsbook and poker site. If Betfred and other UK gaming companies aren’t feeling negative effects of online gambling in a mature UK market, then it’s likely to be similar in the United States.
How Has Online Gambling Affected The Casino Business Plan
New Jersey iGaming revenue has not been as high as expected, but this was due to geolocation, credit card processing problems and, in Lesniak’s words, “amateur advertising”. They aren’t worried about online casinos replacing their brick and mortar. Instead they complement it. The panelists throughout the day agreed with the notion and it’s hopefully one less argument to be made against iGaming in future states.