# How are gamblers/the gambling industry doing at the moment? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 17, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006 "2020-04-17T20:07:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MrLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrLee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/1 "2020-04-17T20:07:58Z")
What with there being very little in the way of sport happening, how are gamblers - and by extension, is the gambling industry - doing at the moment? I presume that _actual gambling addicts_ are still able to find things to get their fix (Belarusian under-16’s mixed double curling… - bring it on!) - but for professional and hobby gamblers, what are you guys up to? And what will be the short, medium and long-term impacts of CV for the gambling industry? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/2 "2020-04-17T21:38:47Z")
Moved to the Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/3 "2020-04-17T23:13:05Z")
Our state lottery is still running and they sell tickets online as well as in stores. I think most state lotteries are still running. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/4 "2020-04-18T00:21:47Z")
I would think one could gamble online all they want. Blackjack, poker, craps, slots and video poker, etc. Don’t need brick and mortar to give your money away to rich stockholders. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/5 "2020-04-18T00:34:10Z")
Fanduel is promoting betting on a variety of eSports, which I expected, and reality TV shows, which I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/6 "2020-04-18T05:59:15Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I would think one could gamble online all they want. Blackjack, poker, craps, slots and video poker, etc. Don’t need brick and mortar to give your money away to rich stockholders. My understanding is that online poker (or, at least, playing online poker for money) is now illegal in most states, as a result of the [Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_Internet_Gambling_Enforcement_Act_of_2006). ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/7 "2020-04-18T06:12:24Z")
All the casinos in Las Vegas are closed, as are all the sportsbooks. Four of them were still open on their mobile apps, but AFAIK, the wagers have mostly been on Russian hockey, soccer in Turkey and a few other weird competitions and prop bets; there hasn’t been much to bet on, after all. > [@](#): > > On what would have been the eve of the first day of the NCAA Tournament, Nevada’s 190 sportsbooks closed Wednesday as part of the 30-day statewide closure of all casinos and other nonessential businesses in response to the coronavirus pandemic. > However, a handful of books plan to stay open for business during the shutdown via their mobile sports betting apps. > “The mobile sports betting apps are allowed to continue to operate,” Nevada Gaming Control Board research analyst Michael Lawton said in an email. “If a property chooses to shut down their mobile sports betting applications, that would be a decision made by the individual location.” > William Hill, Circa Sports, MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment are the only Nevada sportsbooks that plan to continue accepting wagers on their mobile apps. [In the coronavirus sports void, these are the desperate bets gamblers are making](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/21/coronavirus-and-sports-what-gamblers-are-betting-on-in-the-void.html): > [@](#): > > In the short window between the mass shutdown of most sports leagues and the gubernatorial mandate for casinos to cease operations, the Rampart tried to adapt. Colucci says they tried to book the KHL Russian Hockey League, Turkish and Mexican Soccer Leagues, and the usual live and virtual horse racing. They even looked at expanding the propositions bets around Tom Brady and where his first snap could take place. > > Sportsbooks off the Las Vegas strip have ventured into even more obscure oddsmaking territory. > > Bovada, a sportsbook company based in Costa Rica, began taking bets on the maximum temperatures in various cities around the country. Days before, a viral tweet brought on some momentary fame for a new platform designed for just that, [BetOnWeather.io](http://BetOnWeather.io). When the app launched in mid-February, its site drew roughly 10,000 visitors per week. > [@](#): > > This past week, thanks to the absence of American sports, the site ballooned to more than 100,000 visitors, according to co-founder Jesse Rowe. Even though the app is currently in a private beta, Rowe hopes it will be more than just a way to scratch a gambler’s itch during this drought and could survive in the greater gambling ecosystem. > > “People are definitely looking to replace the hobby of sports gambling and we’re trying to be their solution,” Rowe said. > [@](#): > > popular sports betting site FanDuel introduced new games to its daily fantasy site based on events such as the “Survivor” reality TV series and the Democratic Party presidential debate, the latter drawing more than 55,000 entrants. > > FanDuel rival DraftKings has been doing similar things, with a free prize pool on last weekend’s debate that included wagers on “which candidate will bring up the coronavirus first?” and “over/under how many tweets will Trump post during the debate?” DraftKings also has been focusing on free-to-play pools for TV shows, such as Top Chef, Jeopardy, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, along with paid pools like Aussie Rules Football and Australian Rugby. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/8 "2020-04-18T07:05:02Z")
They have saved themselves $500 million, because that is how much I had planned to win during our trip to Vegas this week that got cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/9 "2020-04-18T07:12:27Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My understanding is that online poker (or, at least, playing online poker for money) is now illegal in most states, as a result of the [Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_Internet_Gambling_Enforcement_Act_of_2006). When I lived in Thailand, it was reported that since it was also illegal there, one way that people who lost avoided paying was to let their credit-card companies know what those charges were actually for. Something about the company would then cancel payment or get the payment back. Would only work one time of course, as the online site would not have anything else to do with you. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/10 "2020-04-18T12:24:33Z")
The big lotteries are lowering their initial jackpots since sales are way down. E.g., [Powerball](https://www.wect.com/2020/03/26/powerball-lower-jackpot-during-covid-pandemic/) is starting with an $20M jackpot instead of $40M and they are giving lower increments for future lotteries. (The “The next jackpot will be …” stuff.) Note that the odds for these games are terrible to begin with. They only begin to get okay (in theory) once the jackpots get really, really big. And that is going to take much longer to achieve. Presumably the drop in big lottery game sales is also reflected in the sales of scratchers and such. States like Oregon that derive a large fraction of the gaming income from video poker are going to take a big hit. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/11 "2020-04-18T22:16:16Z")
It’ll be interesting to see what this does to casinos. Not all of them are huge margin businesses, like the smaller regional ones or the smaller players in Vegas. Of course, the unknowns here are how long the lockdown lasts but also how bad the economy is afterwards, what people are willing to spend, and how quickly they are willing to go back to casinos even if the doors are open again. It’s quite up in the air. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/12 "2020-04-19T20:29:54Z")
Casinos do OK in a recession but they stay open then. With this there probably will be some who don’t survive. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/13 "2020-04-22T03:27:22Z")
This is exactly the time to jump in to the market and start running numbers! Maybe run it off the cents on the day-ending Dow or something. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/15 "2020-04-23T19:24:54Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/16 "2020-04-23T19:27:17Z")
What’s the over/under on how long it takes the spam post to be corn-fielded? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/17 "2020-04-23T20:49:49Z")
It is way over now… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-gamblers-the-gambling-industry-doing-at-the-moment/852006/19 "2020-04-27T15:39:22Z")
Above post reported as spam.