Crisis year 2020: Spain takes stock

Corona pandemic added a lot to the Spanish gambling sector in 2020. This emerges from the “Yearbook of Gambling in Spain 2021”, which was recently published by the “Cejuego” gambling association. The crisis would have had a negative impact on both the income and the situation of the employees.

Entry decline by 33.2 percent

Covid-19 caused restrictions and losses across the board in the crisis year 2020-both socially and economically. One of the countless affected was without a question the gambling industry, the global Seemed from the pandemic effects. In Spain, the industry association “Cejuego” has now taken stock in the “Yearbook of Gambling” and brought the serious effects on paper last year.

The income of the Spanish gaming industry was in 2020 compared to the previous year Breaked up by 33.2 percent. From 10.2 million $ , gross income has shrunk to 6.7 million $ .

According to José Antonio Gómez Yáñez, sociologist and responsible analyst of the gambling year book, pandemic especially for Recovers in the state -based sector taken care of. He put the losses at 37 percent. In return, the online gambling with 13.7 percent would have increased, but the digital segment could not prevent the high loss margin.

Crisis by shutdown. During the Lockdown in Spain, all national gambling facilities had to close their doors. As a result, the entire analogous range of games fell away. The players were forced to switch into the online gambling game, which in turn had enormous losses in the state-based sector. In the meantime, there were larger protests in the country against the restrictive resolutions of politics. However, the damage caused could not be averted.

Collateral damage to the labor market

According to Gaming Yearbooks, the revenue for the state -based casinos, casinos and Co. are only one side of the medal. The situation of the employees was much more serious and dramatic last year. The lockdown phases would have round 47,000 employees directly affected. Indirectly there are another 175,000 jobs that the majority are made up of gastronomy and hotel industry.

Since the individual gambling facilities were closed during the shutdown, the respective operators and companies were forced, the majority of their own Send the workforce to short -time work. Only the employees who were responsible for mechanical maintenance and administration could still have been employed full -time.

Although the majority of the workforce were in short work last year, no salary was paid by the respective employers. The Spanish law sees in such a case Payment of unemployment benefit before. Accordingly, the employees concerned would not have been entitled to vacation or a wage surcharge within the period. In addition, there were repeated reports in the past year that isolated people had not received any payment from the government for months.

Crisis not overcome. Apparently the global community seemed to have successfully contained the Coronavirus this year. But appearance is deceptive. Increasing infection numbers and the omikron variant have heralded a fourth wave. This makes it almost impossible for the gambling industry in Spain to recover from the past crisis year. According to Alejandro Landaluce, General Director of “Cejuego”, around ten percent of the arcades are still closed or have problems with the reopening.

Pandemie effects in USA

The gambling industry in USA also caught cold the crisis year 2020. Similar to Spain, casinos, casinos and Co. had to close nationwide in the high phase of pandemic. Industry associations such as “The American Automatism Economy” (DAW) warned of its time politics that legal and regulated gambling offer completely. The danger is too great that Walking to the black market at the end of the game And so that the sewage order is endangered.

The American automaton economy. The DAW represents the interests of the entire gaming industry towards the media, politics and administration. The association was founded in 2013 and is considered a public mouthpiece of all industry players.

Georg Stecker, DAW board spokesman, appealed several times to the federal and state governments last year to make the Corona measures more flexible and not to formulate a flat rate. Due to the restrictive gait, licensed gaming providers and companies are not only able to do justice to canalization, but also Jobs are at stake.

Plug should be right. In the winter months 2020, many employees were released or transferred to the short -time work. At the same time, this rampant Illegal gambling in the Federal Republic. The police had to multiple times during the Lockdown Dissolve illegal gatherings. The violation of that American Infection Protection Act It often went hand in hand with forbidden gambling activities. Such incidents mostly occurred in closed restaurants or private accommodations.