Las Vegas, often jokingly called the Disneyland for adults, among many other things, is undoubtedly a top US tourist destination. In the 1950s, it morphed from a dreary desert town to America’s number one gambling hub and later the world's premium gaming destination. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, around forty-two million people visited Las Vegas casinos annually. With many arriving to get a taste of the varied shows the City of Lights provides, the world-class dining, and take in its magnificent sights.
Yes, the number of attractions here is vast
and diverse. While gambling is an essential part of the Vegas experience, the
city has also grown beyond it, offering other forms of entertainment that, as a
whole, likely overshadow the allure of the thousands of games of chance hosted
in this 141.84 square mile area. Naturally, platforms have also played their
part in lowering the need for people to visit this Mojave Desert spot to chase
chance-based riches.
Pre-pandemic, Las Vegas’ yearly revenue peak
was an impressive $12.8 billion, notched in 2007. Though, it is worth noting
that, then and now, Vegas was and is not the planet’s premier location in this
category class.
The former Portuguese colony of Macau in China
long overtook Nevada’s most populous region, and the state as a whole, in terms
of annual revenues. In 2019, Macau generated more than $29 billion in gaming
cash, almost half of what USA online
casino sites pulled in that same year.
Below, we get into the current financial state
of Las Vegas and how have real-money casino sites
impacted America’s favorite gaming stopping place's bottom line.
How is Vegas Recovering from the Pandemic?
In 2020, Las Vegas casinos experienced an
unprecedented shock as Nevada’s government forced them to close their doors for
seventy-eight days from May to June of that year. Of course, this was to reduce
COVID-19 spread among the state’s population and its tourists. Without
argument, this was a trying time that caused many local gaming enthusiasts to
turn to online gambling sites, with many sites that feature identical slot
machines and table games to those found on MGM resorts international’s and
other famous Vegas casinos’ floors.
Credit card deposits at internet gambling
sites in the US and every corner of the globe increased dramatically in 2020.
And most sector analysts predicted that it would take Vegas around three years
to rebound from this crisis. Yet, living up to its reputation, The World’s
Entertainment Capital bounced back fantastically from dire straits, as in 2021,
according to Nevada’s Gaming Control Board, it raked in an all-time high of
over $13.4 billion in pre-tax gaming figures. So, Vegas’ brick-and-mortar
casinos had never seen a better year, with the state’s gaming market thriving
like never before.
That said, fears now have emerged that high
gas prices and an impending
recession could cause sizeable harm to the United States’ casino
industry. As the stock market continues tumbling and interest rates rise, these
will unquestionably affect mortgages, vehicles, and credit cards to cost more.
Therefore, many expect to see fiat and crypto casinos get
a further user base boost in the year to come due to these happenings in the
global economy.
Have Online Casinos Done Any Damage to Sin
City?
Interestingly enough, no. Even though the
online gambling sphere is on course to start pulling in yearly revenues of $158
billion in the next six years, clearly, its expansion is occurring by
attracting different demographics than those that like to visit land-based
gambling venues.
Traditionally, online casinos are able to
entice users with casino bonus offers and promotion programs — although many
land-based casinos aren’t far behind. If players are able to find different
value in an online and brick-and-mortar experience, it’s likely that these two
sides of the gambling industry will likely continue to grow alongside each
other.
However, metaverse casinos and live dealer
games further bring elements of the social interaction found at physical
locales to the digital sphere. So, they threaten to lure in more land-based
players online, as the differences between playing over the internet and
in-person become more and more negligible.
Do Live Dealer Games Pose the Biggest Threat?
Pioneered in 2003 by Playtech, live streaming
dealers exploded only in the last few years. This is because mobile technology
and internet penetration finally reached a point where these games can get
played remotely from anywhere at any time.
Moreover, on account of their popularity,
operators now advertise lucrative bonus deals connected to live table classics
and games like slots and blackjack. Plus, game providers are now also not shy
about hosting VIP rooms, where the max bet sizes go up to several thousands of
dollars.
Things are not only evening up in the table
game realm, offline and online, but the latter sphere is gaining an advantage
due to it incorporating a mix of classic gameplay paired with RNG-powered one.
That blend has brought forward a new genre of novel games that only online
casinos host.
Are Online Slots More Popular Than Land-Based
Ones?
Going by the latest estimates, around twenty
thousand online reel-spinners exist. That is probably a far greater number than
the figure for land-based machines. Nevertheless, a premium Las Vegas casino
has a few thousand of these devices, and only Curacao-regulated gambling sites
can match these numbers.
Furthermore, the land-based slot record is a
prize of $39.7 million won at the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas in 2003. For
comparison, the online reward milestone is $23.6 million, which got landed in
April 2021 at the Napoleon Sports & Casino. Does this mean that land-based
slots are still more popular than internet ones? The best estimation is that
both types are comparably popular in their respective spheres, and a global
pandemic impacted the business of both online and land-based casinos.
What can we state with some confidence
regarding the US gambling industry? That's that online sports betting is now
definitely dominating the retail sector, with deposits at legalized
online mobile sports apps skyrocketing in many states. One may say that this
betting sector is amidst a similar evolution that card gambling went through in
the early-2000s during the online poker boom.
#FeaturedPost #FeatureByNZGamblingCommission
Source: africa.businessinsider