As Nevada gears up to welcome back tourists and open up its gaming tables, a new survey has been released outlining what casino goers and poker players are looking for upon their return—and if they’re planning to return at all.
"We’ve been hearing a lot from industry leaders which is fantastic but what we didn’t find was anything from the industry’s biggest supporters, the actual gamblers," said Synergy Blue CEO Georg Washington.
The “Path Forward for Casinos in a Post-Covid World” survey, which was conducted last month, reveals some good news. About 71% of gamblers who plan to return to their favorite Nevada casinos say they would spend the same amount of money they spent before the pandemic hit, or more. Here are some other highlights:
• 51% say they will gamble when casinos reopen.
• 34% of those who plan to return to casinos will do so once stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures are lifted.
• 26% will do so when the number of Covid-19 cases are drastically reduced.
• 21% will do so when stay-at-home orders are lifted, no matter what social distancing measures look like.
• 19% will do so when a vaccine becomes available.
In terms of why poker players plan to return to a casino, 56% say it’s because of the excitement the casino provides and 45% also say it’s because they want to get back to normal (going to the casino is something they did before the pandemic and they want that familiarity back).
Other points of interest include data on online gambling. According to the report. 64% of those surveyed gambled online or played mobile games during the pandemic, with 1 in 5 having not previously played online. And of those that gambled online, 93% said they would continue with online gaming once stay-at-home orders are lifted.
The online gambling numbers are in line with what players are experiencing at sites like Americas Cardroom, which regularly sees its final prize pools eclipse what’s been guaranteed.
The full report can be found on the Synergy Blue website.
