Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1228992
02.04.2020 4 NEWS FROM PAGE 1 In the first half of last year, the sector generated over 7,000 full- time jobs, with more than 280 gaming companies, including both online and land-based enti- ties, having been licensed by the MGA by mid-2019. e MGA spokesperson said that, while – as happened with other entertainment sectors – the gaming industry had been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, not all its verticals and distribution methods were affected in the same way. "e land-based sector, which includes local casinos, gaming parlours, bingo halls and lotto booths, first experienced a drop in attendance due to the social distancing measures. Casinos were then completely closed to the public through Legal Notice 76 of 2020. For these operators, the COVID-19 pandemic has thus meant the complete sus- pension of their business," the spokesperson said, "...[For] land- based operators, naturally [this] is a very severe challenge." "As to online gaming, opera- tors offering sports betting are also being severely impacted, especially those who are pre- dominantly focused on this vertical, since practically all the major sports leagues and events around the world are currently suspended," the spokesperson said. While esports is still alive, this is no saving grace, since tradi- tional sports remains the focus of bettors. e postponement of major sports tournaments and events – such as the European football championship, which was due to take place between June and July – will also result in less revenue for the gaming sector in 2020. "Although other events such as esports events are still taking place, the predominant focus of betting is still on traditional sports, particularly football, and therefore the suspension of the most popular competitions has led to a considerable decrease in gaming revenue." "Revenues for the rest of 2020 will undoubtedly be similarly impacted due to, amongst other matters, the postponement of both the UEFA Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics." Along the same vein, Brada- mante said that, while online casinos, esports and other RNG- based products had seen an in- crease in players, this was less so in terms of a rise in revenue. "As the land-based casinos and other gambling outlets have been closed, some of those cus- tomers are expected to move online, but they are a funda- mentally different player group," Bradamante said. "Overall, the betting activity is down, and a number of public- ly-listed companies like GVC, William Hill and Flutter have an- nounced that they expect some heavy impact on their business- es, especially the bookies," he said. Operators which offer varied services, such as online gaming, have been able to shield them- selves from some of the worst effects, but there is no guarantee that customers don't become increasingly unwilling to spend their limited money on these products if the pandemic drags on, the MGA spokesperson highlighted. "For operators that have mul- tiple verticals, some players may shift their attention onto other products, such as online casino or poker, at least in the short term. Nevertheless, a lot de- pends on the duration of this cri- sis, and with disposable income being seriously under threat for a number of persons around the world, online casino could also start feeling the brunt of this sit- uation, albeit at a later stage," the representative said. Asked whether online gam- bling had in fact increased, the spokesperson said it was too ear- ly to confirm this for certain, but that initial indications were that activity in this area had risen. "e Authority will have more reliable data in the coming weeks, as it takes some time in order to discern a consist- ent pattern to identify whether there has been a general upward trend. However, initial assess- ments show that other products such as online casino and poker have indeed seen an increase in activity." "is may be due to various factors, including the fact that many people are spending more time at home, but also as a re- placement to brick and mortar gambling or, for some players that enjoy multiple products, as a replacement for betting on sports events." e MGA spokesperson un- derscored that operators which offer different verticals are shift- ing resources from the lower performing activities to online casinos, where this is possible, to meet the increase in demand, whilst some other operators are even recruiting new employ- ees. e latter cannot be said for operators who solely or pre- dominantly offer sports betting, however. Most foreign gaming workers chose to remain in Malta Questioned on whether foreign gaming sector employees – who account for a significant portion of all the industry's workforce – had decided return to their home, the spokesperson said this was not generally the case. "In general, foreigners working in the industry have decided to remain here and continue with their jobs, but there were some cases where individuals decided to go back to their home coun- try, to stay closer to their rela- tives during these trying times." Bradamante also said that for- eign gaming workers had mostly decided to stay put. "To my knowledge very few for- eign staff have left Malta in light of the pandemic," he said, under- scoring however that "there have been some companies who have let go of some staff in the past few weeks." Gaming industry remains committed to Malta When it comes to gaming firms' operations, the MGA spokesperson said that licenses firms were adapting to the new COVID-19 reality, with the vast majority of the online gaming operators having shifted most staff to teleworking – a possibili- ty which was open to them even before the pandemic. "is said, some other opera- tors, even though operating in the online sphere, have a bigger reliance on people working from physical premises. For these tele- working is not always possible," the representative said. Bradamante said that, by and large, gaming companies had anticipated the social-distanc- ing government has put in place and had specifically made ar- rangements for employees to be able to work from home in or- der to minimise travel and per- son-to-person contact. "As such, the operations of the gaming companies have been largely unaffected by the meas- ures put in place by the govern- ment," he said. Bradamante added that the gaming industry remained "pos- itive and committed to Malta". "We welcome the news that the WHO has praised the Mal- tese government's response to the crisis. We are and plan to re- main in close dialogue with the government and the regulator to assess the impact of the crisis on our business and our staff, and to put emergency mitigation ac- tions in place," he said. Online casinos, this far immune to slowdown, might suffer as disposable income drops Euro area annual inflation down to 0.7% EURO area annual inflation is expected to be 0.7% in March 2020, down from 1.2% in February according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & to- bacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in March (2.4%, compared with 2.1% in February), followed by services (1.3%, compared with 1.6% in February), non-energy industrial goods (0.5%, stable compared with February) and energy (-4.3%, compared with 0.3% in February). 51/2020 - 31 March 2020 Flash estimate - March 2020 Euro area annual inflation down to 0.7% Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 0.7% in March 2020, down from 1.2% in February according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in March (2.4%, compared with 2.1% in February), followed by services (1.3%, compared with 1.6% in February), non-energy industrial goods (0.5%, stable compared with February) and energy (-4.3%, compared with -0.3% in February). Euro area annual inflation and its components, % All-items HICP Food, alcohol & tobacco Energy Non-energy industrial goods Services -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Euro area annual inflation, March 2020, % iGen chairman Enrico Bradamante