A study of the impact the current global economic crisis is having on the gambling industry was recently conducted by the UK office of PricewaterhouseCoopers Int’l Ltd.
While gambling blogosphere junkies expressed shock at the results, what I was more shocked by is the fact that people were shocked.
What were those results? In short, games like bingo, slots and lotteries have been almost unaffected. In fact, there’s been an upturn in the online play of all three. High stakes games, on the other hand, have taken a serious hit. Poker, Craps and Roulette tables are experiencing record low attendance, both online and on land.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
First of all, Bingo is a near sport for some. My Sister-in-Law, for example, plays so many online bingo cards at once she’s developed a condition I like to call Frown Syndrome. Its symptoms are mild and reversible with treatment and/or botox (the latter for the deep vertical grooves that have formed between her eyes on account of squinting 18 hours a day to clearly read the 36 bingo cards spread across her desktop). In any case, the point is that the game is popular and an economic recession won’t change that.
Secondly, Lotteries and Slots are Hope Games, upon which people who are nearly hopeless bestow their remaining shreds of hope. Naturally, in times of crisis, as the number of people losing hope increases, so too does participation in activities whose “hope factor” remains high.
Sure, maybe only 1 in a bazillion people wins that million dollar prize. But it could be you. And that, of course, is way more likely than the when-hell-freezes-over odds on the bank stopping your home’s foreclosure, your boss giving you back your job, and your credit card collections agent calling it even.
And finally, with regard to high stakes poker and table games like Roulette and Craps… Think about it. Who plays those games? I know I’ve never seen a guy with a tool belt escorted to the VIP room, or an off duty parking attendant sitting behind the velvet rope. The “classy” section of the casino is reserved for movie stars, international oil magnates and businessman, and while the movie star might not feel the heat of a global economy in flames, the latter two most definitely do. Hence the drop off in high stake game participation.
All will even out once we’re all back on our feet. Until then, it’s nice to know that the high-rollers have to play with $50,000 versus $5 million dollar chips while the rest of us hang on for our financial lives.
