Penn National Gaming had to temporarily shut down casinos across the U.S. earlier this year due to the coronavirus. In response, the company’s online business began thriving as gamblers were seeking alternatives to shuttered brick-and-mortar properties.
“We expect our digital businesses to deliver meaningful revenue and profit contributions in 2021 and beyond,” Penn National Gaming CEO, Jay Snowden, said back in April.
Since then, trends have been typically stable from a visitation to a length of play standpoint for Pen National Gaming. In a recent CNBC interview, Snowden spoke about positive vaccine news and how it is impacting the gaming industry.
“Once the vaccine is widely available and/or there’s effective treatments for COVID, the 55+ and 65+ year old online player segments will probably return to land-based casinos as they’ll feel more comfortable leaving their homes more often,” he said on a recorded video call.
In the interview, Snowden also mentioned increased visitation among younger generations between the ages of 21-40, “We’ve got this young audience who’ve come to online casinos, as there are less forms of entertainment like concerts and sporting events, and they are having a great time.”
Earlier this year, Optimove gaming data showed how significant of a hit sports betting took, as average sport daily players dropped significantly by 30% due to the cancellation of events. But still, according to the same analysis, players found creative solutions for seeking thrill as many migrated to other products, evident in an increase of 255% in first-time poker players during the period.
Now that sports are finally back in full swing (though without the crowds), Snowden forecasted that the spread of online sports betting is only going to get bigger when talking about the growth of the Barstool Sportsbook app.
Key Takeaway
A COVID-vaccine could cause for continual digital success among younger player segments who are more interested in sports betting and likely to engage on their mobile devices – while more conservative players, missing that face-to-face land-based casino interaction, might go back to land-based platforms. Marketers should take this into consideration when promoting to these segments, and trying to perhaps cross-sell them to other offers. The kind that isn’t available IRL.
For further data on the impact of COVID-19 on the gaming and sports betting industries, go to Optimove’s Coronavirus Gaming Pulse.